John Dee Holeman - John Dee Holeman & The Waifs Band (2007)

John Dee Holeman was welcomed into the Music Maker family in 1995, and has received monthly stipends for prescription medicine, help with car repairs, and guitars. Music Maker has recorded three CDs for John Dee and booked him for tours in Switzerland, France, Germany, and the United States over the years. He is featured in the book Music Makers: Portraits and Songs from the Roots of America.

The most improbable meetings sometimes produce the most surprising results. This recording is an outstanding example. The Music Maker Foundation is a non-profit organization based in North Carolina that is dedicated to providing recognition and day-to-day support for traditional musicians and their families. So spectacular are the efforts of this extraordinary enterprise that performers who could not afford to travel 50 miles to play a gig at home, not only get to have their music recorded and distributed, but in some cases get to travel to music festivals as far away as Byron Bay in Australia or Lille in France, playing in front of thousands of delighted festival goers. Australia's foremost exponents of high energy folk-rock, Bob Dylan tour support band and festival circuit favourites "The Waifs", had gathered at the Music Maker studios for a week of rehearsals prior to a US tour. After the usual swings between nailing a song to arguing over an arrangement that characterise such chores as rehearsals, it was sweet relief for The Waifs when Music Maker's Tim Duffy suggested hooking up with some Foundation artists to make some music and see what developed.

"The Waifs had converged at Music Maker studios in North Carolina for a week’s rehearsal before our US tour started. Toward the end of the week Tim Duffy suggested he invite some of the Foundations artists over to make some music. John Dee Holeman turned up. He's a real gentleman, very gracious & after a quick round of introductions he picked up an old guitar and started to play like ...well like he'd been doing it all his life. We were in awe. There are rare occasions when one sits in the presence of living legend and experiences one of the last true forms of authentic music. Tentatively we joined in. I remember being nervous about playing harmonica. I was trying to play Sonny Terry licks, to be bluesy, to feel it. You can hear that...me trying. That’s the thing you see. All week we had been going over songs, arrangements. Arguing over this and that. Trying to create our final version. When John Dee picked up that guitar and started playing it was the most natural thing in the world. Not something you thought about, or planned, or crafted. Just something you felt, as natural and easy as taking a walk. So here it is. That afternoon at Music Maker studios when John Dee Holeman took a walk with his guitar and the Waifs tagged along, sometimes in step, sometimes a step behind. But the closest step we'd ever taken toward the blues. We wish to thank John Dee Holeman for the music and Tim & Denise Duffy for putting us up & bringing it together." (~Vikki Thorn)

Traditional songs like "John Henry" are played with joy and exuberance, in this case with an energy comparable to the recent Springsteen version. On blues standards like Otis Spann's "Country Gal," Holeman's National Steel playing echoes Mississippi John Hurt in technique and his vocals are smooth and silky despite his advancing years. Sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson, whose thrilling vocals are at the heart of The Waifs live and recorded performances, contribute minimal but sympathetic vocals, with Thorn (in her own words) "trying...to be bluesy" on harmonica. Guitarist Josh Cunningham, usually a forcefully melodic lead player with The Waifs, takes a back seat here, in deference to the fact that this is John Dee Holeman's party, and he's a guest. Typically solid but swinging rhythm section duties are provided by bassist Ben Franz and David Macdonald, who beats on what might just be the world's smallest drum kit.While Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" swings like mad, and "Baby Please Don't Go" is a joyous rollicking shuffle, all songs on this charming CD are a treat.(~puremusic.com)