Tompkins Square’s knack for bringing fresh fingerpicking talent to light continues with the December 8 release of I Kept These Old Blues, the first album by Ireland’s Muireann Bradley. Deft and intense on the strings and with a strong, emotionally resonant voice, Bradley is part of a younger generation that’s busy putting a personal stamp on traditions roughly a century old, which is how it’s always been done. Across a dozen tracks she tackles a handful of acoustic blues heavyweights and she more than holds her own. Available on vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital, it’s a recording poised to leave aficionados of the form feeling good.
There’s really nothing mysterious about how this stellar album of acoustic blues fingerpicking by the young Irishwoman Muireann Bradley (she lives in Ballybofey in County Donegal) came about. She learnt the instrument and the blues from her father starting at age nine. Then she practiced. Then she put the instrument down as her focus shifted to training and competing in combat sports. As Covid emerged, she picked the guitar back up again with renewed vigor. A YouTube video was made. Josh Rosenthal, who runs Tompkins Square, a sharp recognizer of talent, came a calling. This record was cut.
The lack of the enigmatic doesn’t make Bradley’s achievement any less impressive, particularly as she’s 16 years old (or thereabouts). Bradley mentions that she wrote out a list of tunes to learn and then set to work, with the first one “Police Dog Blues” by Blind Blake. That was the song in the first YouTube video (there are now numerous videos), and the recording of it here, sequenced third on the album, is a dexterous dazzler keeping close to Blake’s instrumental template, though Bradley sensibly makes lyrical adjustments.
Bradley sings with confident sass (much closer to the coffeehouse than the nightclub) but keeps it in check as the fingerpicking never takes a back seat. This all comes through with clarity in opener “Candyman,” her splendid take of the oft-recorded chestnut by Reverend Gary Davis. And from a pure guitar standpoint, the most impressive tracks here are I Kept These Old Blues’ two instrumentals, “Vestapol,” a traditional tune in an arrangement by Stefan Grossman, and “Buck Dancer’s Choice” by Sam McGee in an arrangement by John Fahey.
But just as impressive is Bradley’s adeptness at channeling the life-affirming spirit of Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotton. There are three songs by Hurt, all exquisite: “Richland Woman Blues,” and two of his most celebrated, “Stagolee” and “Frankie,” the latter in an arrangement credited to Ari Eisinger. These last two are given energetic readings by Bradley.
The numbers by Cotten are her two most well-known, “Shake Sugaree” in an arrangement by Grossman, and “Freight Train.” In contrast to her approach to Hurt, Bradley stays close to the pace that Cotten preferred, with her rendition of “Freight Train” simply gorgeous as it delivers I Kept These Old Blues a perfect finale.
Earlier in the set, “Green Rocky Road,” written by Len Chandler and the poet Bob Kaufman and best known in a version by Dave Van Ronk, is the newest piece Bradley tackles here, her take deepening the coffeehouse vibes, as does “Delia,” a traditional tune in yet another arrangement by Grossman. Given Grossman’s decades-long impact on solo acoustic guitar, it’s no surprise he lent encouragement and advice to Bradley as she made this record.
“Police Sargeant Blues” by Robert Wilkins rounds out the selections on I Kept These Old Blues, an amazing debut album where its maker never fumbles, even briefly, and where there are no lesser tracks. If she never cuts another record, Bradley’s place amongst the greats of acoustic blues guitar is assured.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
