Sounds A Hundred Years Old Today

The first time I heard of C W Stoneking was the smokey beer bottle littered living room of The Bonavista Chain Locker's Steve Hoskins and Mary Beth Waldram who owned a vinyl of his and popped it on for a little while. As soon as that needle made it to the end of that first row I fell in love. Everything about the album seemed trapped in time, from the album cover (Stoneking with an american steel guitar in his arms with a bowlers hat and suit and tie on a black and white cover) to the music that sounded a jump blues/calypso/jungle/jazz just about everything under the sun influence extravaganza. I can hear how Stoneking has influenced The Bonavista Chain Locker where they themselves have that same influence in their own great music. Again I fell in love with Stoneking's music right after that first few tracks and it sure wasn't the booze talking. His gravely voice fits perfectly with the background of horns and at times sounds like the deepest of blues singers such as Bukka White or Blind Willie Johnson with their familiar powerful rich voices. Stoneking comes from American parents but was born and raised in Australia and it is there where he prominently performs with his backup band The Primitive Horn Orchestra. In this video Stoneking is introduced by another stuck in time performer that I love named Seasick Steve. Steve introduces Stoneking as being lost in the 1920s and 30s. You can tell this guys got something when he performs his first of two songs in this video on banjo by himself and just silences the audience. There's not a movement in the crowd as he sings and plays. The second song he does is called The Love Me Or Die and is a old hokum song from New Orleans. Its really special to experience such great music being played to this day, its music like this that should never be lost in time and forgot about. Its great performers like C W Stoneking who we need to remind us how great music was back in the turn of the century. In a time where music is full of fake notes and voices that are twisted and turned by computers there's nothing better than going back to the basic and seeing actual talent instead of pushing buttons. Perfection is not always perfect.