The late Hamper McBee was a moonshiner, carnival barker, and ballad singer. That's really all you need to know about McBee, except that he actually recorded records and that his album The Good Old Fashioned Way is a crazy slice of Americana that was recorded in 1977 and is compilation of his ballads, affecting original compositions, and life stories. That's really a classy way of saying that The Good Old Fashioned Way is just the ramblings of a crazy old guy who sounds like he took a few too many sips of his own moonshine and then sat down and drowned his sorrows with a guitar. Call me crazy, but much of this record sounds like a free flowing stream of rambling that doesn't ever seem to end or even really make sense.
Hardly musical and sounding something like William S. Burroughs if he was an old redneck, Hamper McBee sounds like a relic lost in the 19th century; I guess that's to be expected judging by McBee's career choices and life path. The record is crazy, at times barely intelligible and just about listenable. I would hardly call this good despite the sometimes funny stories and near-vulgar tales that populate the record. It's a bit rude and maybe lewd and you might chuckle here and there but that really doesn't make The Good Old Fashioned Way any better.
I don't like Americana as a genre as it is, and with someone who doesn't really sound like he's been sober in 30 years I like it even less. Sorry Hamper McBee...
No comments:
Post a Comment