Erin Harpe deserves to be accorded a spot along with Rory Block and just a few others in the high echelons of acoustic blueswomen.
–Steve Daniels
After the release of several albums with her electric band the Delta Swingers, Erin Harpe has returned to her country blues roots with “Meet Me in the Middle.” Harpe, a skilled fingerpicking guitarist and sultry singer, won the 2019 New England Blues Artist of the Year award, and this outing confirms her stature as a force in the blues world.
Recording in their Massachusetts abode in summer 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, Harpe and her bass player husband, Jim Countryman, dig into ten tunes comprising a brief but satisfying set. It commences with the Harpe composition “All Night Long,” a straightforward invitation to a love tryst. Succeeding it are two more originals: “Hard Luck Woman,” which easily could have been a 1930s Memphis Minnie song, and the title track, with clever lyrics such as “You say yes, I say no, You say stop, I say go; You’re not right, I’m not wrong, We’re just singin’ that same old song.” It’s probably no coincidence that the song appears in the middle of a divisive political and cultural moment.
Next Harpe and Countryman cover a series of hoary and worthy tunes. Sippie Wallace’s “Women Be Wise” and “I Hate That Train Called the M&O” by Lucille Bogan (AKA Bessie Jackson) are both given fine updated treatments; Harpe even supplements the former with some kazoo renderings. “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” covered by myriad others ranging from Muddy Waters to Bob Dylan, displays Countryman’s bass and Harpe’s slide meshing seamlessly. A version of “Pick Poor Robin Clean” by the mysterious and sparsely recorded Geeshie Wiley in the late 1920s is then followed by a measured and mellow rendition of the gospel classic “When I Lay My Burden Down.”
The penultimate track finds Harpe plucking and vamping on Memphis Minnie’s “What’s the Matter with the Mill,” and the set ends with another Harpe original, “One Fine Day,” a nice love ballad with overdubbed harmonizing vocal by Harpe. Several other tracks also sport similar delicious backing harmonies, and many benefit by Harpe’s coincident foot percussion.
The album’s clean production allows appreciation of Harpe’s soprano vocals, her guitar prowess, and her intimate musical rapport with Countryman. Erin Harpe deserves to be accorded a spot along with Rory Block and just a few others in the high echelons of acoustic blueswomen. -Steve Daniels, Big City Blues Magazine
Erin Harpe deserves to be accorded a spot along with Rory Block and just a few others in the high echelons of acoustic blueswomen.
–Steve Daniels
[original article link, Dec/Jan 2020]