ECLECTIC PLAYLIST #2 I CANNOT KEEP FROM CRYING SOMETIMES

Tim's second track this week is called I Cannot Keep From Crying Sometimes by Martin Simpson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXs2U11AUDU

Now before I go any further, I should point out that Tim himself is an excellent guitarist with a love of any music that's a bit different. Just bear that in mind while you listen to this; it'll give you a clue as to why he sent this track to me, and maybe why he came up with the idea of the eclectic playlist in the first place.

This atmospheric bluesy ballad is a cover of a track by a gospel/blues musician called Blind Willie Johnson from the 1920s. Let's be honest, when your name is Blind Willie Johnson, it's almost like destiny has singled you out as a blues guitarist. Anyway, Blind Willie had a deep growly tenor voice and a characteristic love of the slide guitar.

That's what's going on here too. Martin Simpson is wearing a slide on his little finger to produce that characteristic sound throughout the track (well, from 27 seconds onwards anyway). He's also holding a device called an ebow, which uses an electromagnet to bend the strings. That haunting tone at the start of the track is all ebow, and then a bit of slide. It made me think of the wind whistling across the plain, where the road stretches out through a heat haze and tumbleweeds roll drily under the Nevadan sun.

I have two favourite moments after that. I promised myself that I'd pick out things I really like about these tracks, and there are a few to choose from here.

The first is the bass strings and guitar sound at 1:34, just when he puts the ebow down and starts finger picking. The contrast of the resonant guitar sound against the fading wind of the ebow is great. Is the guitar detuned? Probably - you need open chord shapes for the slide I think. I've got no idea; it sounds deep though. I loved that moment.

The next moment is tiny, at 2:29, when he sings "But you know I... cannot keep from crying..." It's so subtle, under the breath and natural. It's not only totally believable, it's perfectly contrasted with the higher register in the vocals that's coming up. I really liked that little inflection.

What's more, the sultry bluesy vocals fit the guitar sound almost perfectly, as though he and the instrument are connected in ways that no-one else could understand. That's great because musicians who've mastered their instrument feel this, I think - that the instrument is actually part of them somehow. There's a symbiosis between wood, strings, metal and guitarist where they all play together and it all fits.

OK, what didn't I like? Well, it's not my style, this. I have a sort of appreciation of blues but it doesn't switch me on. Martin Simpson is blending all kinds of things really well, but isn't it all just a bit... downbeat?

OK, don't shoot me. It's the blues, right? It's supposed to be all I-can't-believe-she-left-me and All-I-Got-is-this-broken-guitar-and-a-three-legged-dog-and-the-dog-don't-like-me-neither.

It's just not quite for me. I do appreciate a brilliantly executed performance though. It really made me want to get a slide and try to recreate the sound of the American Midwest on a rainy afternoon in chilly old England.

I bet Tim's already had a go at that.