DEBBIE BRIDGEWATER
Flat Picking In Texas
Liberty – Red Haired Boy – I’ll Fly Away –
Whiskey Before Breakfast – Grandfather’s Clock – Just A Closer Walk With
Thee – Billy In The Lowground – Nine Pound Hammer – Wildwood Flower –
Soldier’s Joy
If someone who really ‘likes’ old-time country music, and
might be a jammer, or perhaps a beginning picker, this particular album
by Texas picker Debbie Bridgewater is a ‘must-have’ in the library of
any up-and-coming picker or listener. It’s also a very relaxing CD to
listen to, one I’ll keep in my office to just keep me ‘focused’ on my
own dream of keeping some of this music alive, at least for a little
longer, it has been so important to the entire country music
enterprise. Good pickin’ comes easy to some, like Debbie, and it takes a
little longer for others, but inevitably it becomes a reality, like
anything else, if you just ‘keep on pickin.’ The musical selections
Debbie chose to do for this Cowboy Capital Records label is also very
‘classic country’ and in some cases definitely ‘traditional country.’
What would country music be without songs like “I’ll Fly Away” and
“Wildwood Flower?” This is it. This is the definitive musical location
of where that ‘pick’
goes, and in Debbie Bridgewater’s case, it is used in marvelous
different ways. She not only picks flat-top acoustic guitar, she also
picks mandolin and banjo. She’s also a terrific rhythm guitarist and
upright acoustic bass player. Joining her on this priceless
‘instrumental’ CD is Carroll Parham on Dobro and steel guitar. He’s
also a prodigy on both those instruments. I would dearly love to visit
this talented couple someday. They live in Stephenville, Texas, not far
from Fort Worth, so who knows maybe that will happen sometime. I know
there’s got to be some good ‘pickin’ stories there, and I’d sure like to
hear them. Every song on this album is incredibly well done, right to
the ‘T’ if you will. The background backing and ‘mix’ is just right.
It takes a good ‘ear’ to make all of this turn out good, and in this
particular session it is extremely well done, so kudos to the engineer
and studio producer, probably Carroll who is turning the knobs in the
engineers booth. Good job well done to both of these fine pickers. If
you are a vocalist and might want to find some of the best traditional
and classic country backing in the studio, it’s worth a shout out to
these two talented people. I’m sure you can get in contact with them at opry@countryopry.com.
Off this one goes to the Rural Roots Music Commission, who also has a
great appreciation for the original creative process that keeps the
older traditional melodies and musical ‘ear’ alive.
RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART, President, National Traditional Country Music Assn., www.music-savers.com for Country Music News International