Pre
Green Voodoo
Green Voodoo
Catfish Records
I guess the first thing that hits you, even before you've opened the CD
case, is the green/gold tinged main liner photo of the "three
leafed clover sun dial." It's one crystal clear signal from Clarke
that Green Voodoo continues to intellectually work the ground that
is a marriage of the music of his ancestral Ireland and America's mystical
south - Clarke's true love. This is "Celticana," if you
will. In the world of Celticana, this collection is the yardstick. A touchstone.
A bright shiny gem. Recorded at Merel Bregante's Austin studio, Cribworks,
Green Voodoo is their third collaboration in a row. The featured
players and vocalists include David Halley (an Austin resident once more),
Rosie Flores, Jesse Taylor, John Inmon, Sarah Pierce and Bregante. And
let's not forget Stefano Intelisano's, sometimes, simply inspirational
work on piano and accordion. If there is a ghost in the music ,
then it is that no fiddle - a staple of past recordings - graces Clarke's
songs on this occasion; a choice not wanted. At the time of making this
recording, Clarke's close friend and acknowledged fiddle genius, DesChamp
"Champ" Hood, was slowly slipping away from us. The collection
is dedicated to Hood and Clarke's late father-in-law.
The title cut opens this set of twelve Clarke originals. The initial sound
of Clarke's acoustic 12 string is gently picked up by Inmon's electric
guitar, as Clarke paints "spirit photographs" (aka cherished
memories) of "hot toddy coming to the boil, the river where the
eels are coiled" and "headlights shining in the evening
mist. " The mention of "a jar of rhythm oil"
being by way of a reference point to Stanley Booth's book Rhythm Oil
and Terry's 1993 trio album of the same name. Positioned in the centre
of this collection are "Goin' Back To Belfast," "Angel
In Ireland" and "Wild Heather Blues." The first is a joy
filled celebration of a city - it's people and places - in which Terry
has consistently found love, peace and understanding despite its recent
troubled history. The hypnotic drone of Jerry Jones' electric sitar perfectly
underpins the song. Rosie Flores provides the harmony vocal on "Angel
In Ireland," as the lyric focuses upon the elements that are the
essence of Irish womanhood. John Inmon's lead guitar breaks explode with
burbling, joyful runs of sounds on "Wild Heather Blues," another
image-filled Celtic recollection.
By way of balancing the Irish with the American there's a swampy blues
feel to "Cotton Town," while the jazzier "The Mayo Mambo"
is inspired, in part, by Clarke's love of the music of Kentucky-born Rosemary
Clooney. As he scats on the closing lines you can tell that Terry is having
(so much) fun. Clarke, a long time Fred Neil fan, recalls the Florida-raised
Folk/Blues songwriter in "The New Sugaree." Neil's self-titled
1967 Capitol album included a song titled "I've Got A Secret (Didn't
We Shake Sugaree)." If you got Eric Taylor's "Chicken
Pie," then I'm sure Clarke's "Wild Honey Blues" will become
a personal favourite of yours. The Bregante/Intelisano-created sound effect
backdrop to "Manhattan Blues" (cars and people's voices) eventually
fades to be replaced by Clarke's twelve string and voice as he sings of
those ancestors who chose to cross the ocean to Times Square and beyond.
Royalties from the latter track are to be donated to the New York Police
& Fire Widow's & Children's Benefit Fund [www.nypfwc.org].
Last year Catfish reissued Clarke's 1991 recording The Shelly River
. Made in the UK, many rate the latter disc as Clarke's finest to
date. If The Shelly River has been judged a classic , then
with Green Voodoo, Clarke has blasted the ball out of the park
once again. The Green Voodoo is a wonderful and interesting place
to go. Visit it soon and often...
Arthur Wood
Folkwax 2002
Terry Clarke
Green Voodoo
Catfish KATCD 0223FP
Right, as we all know, Terry Clarke's actually from Reading, but sings
as if he had spent his life in the Irish homeland of his father, and makes
records in Texas with the greats of the Austin scene. It's a mixed-up,
muddled-up, shook-up world and yet Tel carries it off with style and panache.
If THE SHELLY RIVER, hard to believe now a decade-old, was his highpoint
of the '90s, then Green Voodoo is his classic for the new millennium.
Difficult to go wrong, really, when your lead guitar players are Jesse
(Joe Ely) Taylor and John (Jerry Jeff Walker) Inmon, there's fab acoustic
bass from David Heath and even the harmony vocals come from the likes
of Rosie Flores, David Halley and Sarah Pierce. Add a new star in the
making, Italian pianist Stefano Intelisano, and drummer (and co-producer
with Clarke) Merel Bregante, and you've got the basis for something special.
The title track kicks things off, Clarke's trademark mournful growl backed
by the soft sway of country-tinged sounds that nevertheless sound quite
unlike anything else. Lots of Irish titles
- Angel In Ireland, Maureen S Irish Blues, My Irish Soul Wants You - but
you could as easily be in a sweaty club in downtown New Orleans as on
a Galway hillside. Other tracks take on a jazz crooner feel more reminiscent
of Clarke's recent classy offerings... The New Sugaree, Cotton Town and
the like. Nowhere do things crack open in the powerhouse sense of another
of Clarke's finest moments, the RHYTHM OIL album where he, Jesse and national
guitar virtuoso Michael Messer, created one of the finest ever soundtracks
for driving across the States. This is a dreamy, gently-rocking set with
great tunes (Wild Honey Blues for instance) and one that could finally
bring Clarke into the deserved big time. ND
Nick Dalton Maverick 2002
Terry Clarke - Green Voodoo Catfish Records
It's been some time since I last heard from Clarke whose earlier albums,
The Shelly River in particular, occupy a special place in my roots collection
with his recollections of growing up in England and Ireland. Although
Appaloosa released Sound of the Moon last year, this is his first new
material since signing to Catfish (who recently reissued Shelly River)
and while recorded in Austin with more of a Texas production inclination,
again finds him in reflective Gaelic mood, bending his increasingly throaty
warble to celebrations of his homeland and the memories it holds on songs
like the Van Morrison-esque title track (his answer to Into The Mystic?),
Maureen's Irish Blues, Goin1 Back To Belfast, Angel In Ireland (on which
Rosie Flores contributes harmony), and the uptempo soul-rocking My Irish
Soul Wants You.
I could live without The Mayo Mambo which really does live down to its
title, but settle back and let the rolling joyful reverie that is The
New Sugaree (dedicated to the late Fred Neil) wash over you, steep yourself
in the Wild Honey Blues and feel the emotions well up as he sings Manhattan
Blues, a post 9/11 tribute to the Irish-Americans who built this city
and whose descendants died (royalties to the NY Police & Fire Widow's
& Children's Benefit Fund) to protect it.
Mike Davies Netrhythms 2002
TERRY CLARKE - GREEN VOODOO
Little Bear ****
Like Wes McGhee, Terry Clarke is an American musician and songwriter trapped
in the body of a Brit, a cultural ambiguity that has served neither very
well, leaving them under-appreciated in two countries instead of one.
Clarke's work combines his devotion to his Irish heritage with an affinity
for American styles, which has led his US label to dub his eighth album,
which features songs titled Maureen's Irish Blues,
Goin' Back to Belfast, Angel in Ireland,
The Mayo Mambo and My Irish Soul Wants
You, 'Celticana'. Recorded in Austin, and featuring Jesse Taylor,
John Inmon, David Halley, Rosie Flores, James Fenner, Sarah Pierce and
Merel Bregante, Green Voodoo in large part ties together directions
Clarke explored on The Shelly River, Lucky and The Sound
of the Moon, integrating jazz, blues and rockabilly with Irish balladry
to tremendous effect. JC
3rd
COAST MUSIC
Austin, Texas March 2005
