Victor Furtado – Victor Furtado

CD Review: Victor Furtado – Victor Furtado

by Christian Lamitschka for Country Music News International

Patuxent Music

Genres: Folk: Appalachian Folk

1. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
2. Bonaparte Crossing The Rhine
3. Fortune
4. Durang’s Hornpipe
5. Chilly Winds
6. Hangman’s Reel
7. Shove The Pigs Foot A Little Farther In The Fire
8. The Ghost On Hippie Hill
9. Catlettsburg
10. John Brown’s Dream
11. Dark Rider
12. Florida Blues
13. Quince Dillon In High B
14. Gypsy
15. The Peace Of The Woods

Victor Furtado is a fabulous, exceptional talent! He comes from an extremely musical family.  He was born in Front Royal, Virginia.  At the age of 9 he began to learn the banjo and now we have his instrumental CD in front of us, which he recorded at the age of 15. On the one hand, he is caught up in the traditional music of the Appalachian Mountains, but is also already pursuing his own ideas and is already inspiring other musicians.

Victor Furtado is a master of the Clawhammer Banjo which originated in West Africa.  Victor won multiple awards in his younger years. On the CD he is supported by producer Nate Leath on fiddle and guitar, Danny Knicely on guitar and Mark Schatz on bass.

Tracks 1, 2 and 10 are traditional old-time music. Track 5 begins as bluesy as a Cajun piece, not interpreted in a traditional way, and goes over to a frenzied fiddle tempo. Track 11 is swinging and bluegrassy with guitar accompaniment and fiddle, tracks 8 and 15 are his own compositions.

Personally, I like “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” which is a wonderful dance piece, “Shove The Pigs Foot A Little Farther In The Fire” also great for clogging, you can also hear the dancing feet of Mark Schatz and “The Peace Of The Woods” features Victor playing the ukulele.