Regular Columnists

Artist: Harpo
Album: Mississippi Redkneck
CD Review: Harpo is a redneck poet. I think he knows a handful of chords, like a good poet should. His guitar is even slightly out of tune, which for Harpo, works. Here’s some of the names of the songs: Mississippi Redkneck, Confederate Stars, Two Shot Troy, Mule Lip Blues, Runnin’ Out of Beer, Lord Protect My Panhead, Elvira Gan. The titles tell it all. The recording is, well, um, primitive. Harpo on sloppy guitar and vocals, and in one tune, a guy in the background coughing, in another, crickets. True to redneck form I guess. Nothing slick about it, except – he has a way of turning a phrase. I like this sort of thang. I’d love to see Harpo work with other great writers/singers . Harpo’s got some interesting things to say and he says it in such a descriptive way, but I think more people would appreciate Harpo if his songs were slicked up a little bit. I might just have to cover one of his tunes myself…