Built Right on the Ground

Andy Cohen has studied and played old music all his life, wandering North America as a songster. He lives by playing old songs. On this CD, Andy plays acoustic guitar, piano, dulceola and sings. On some pieces he is accompanied by his wife Larkin Bryant, on haunting vocals and mandolin. Here are unadulterated songs from the early days of the blues - 2 piano rags done as guitar pieces, 3 blue country songs, 2 piano boogies, one of which has passed between the piano and guitar for over seventy years. The rest are a variety of blues numbers, including a talking blues by Woodie Guthrie, 2 tough ones by Memphis Minnie, 1 each by Big Bill Broonzy, Teddy Darby, and Henry Spaulding. For Andy, these songs are some of the central chunks of his troubadour life, especially Cairo Blues, the weirdest blues ever composed, by a barber from central Illinois.