From Amazon.com
When God is your harmonica player, you can hardly go wrong. Not that Mel Lyman was
that talented of a harp blower--he simply woke up one day and declared his omnipotence, drawing Kweskin in as a disciple, but effectively dismantling one of the 1960s' most eclectic and memorable bands. The Kweskin band looked back to Cannon's Jug Stompers and old-time string bands for inspiration, infusing these classic styles with a slurred, if not drunken, pre-hippie sensibility. With talents such as Bill Keith and the Muldaurs (Geoff and Maria) on board, Kweskin pulled it off magically, able to match high-level picking and singing with a loose delivery and an overriding sense of revelry. The formula, as informal as it was, had room for jug classics, early jazz and ragtime, John Hurt and Blind Boy Fuller, Uncle Dave Macon, Kahn and Whiting, Leiber and Stoller, even Chuck Berry. This 20-song collection offers a wonderful snapshot of the Kweskin band's aesthetic, one in which all parts are in service to the master--no, not Mel Lyman, but musical whoopee.
--Marc Greilsamer
