Ben Bowen King
Sidewalk Saints (Roots Gospel Guitar)
Talking Taco Music – 153D
visit Ben on myspace
available on cd baby
This is a gem that deserves to be heard, it is one of the few records that lives up to the designation of “roots.” This is the style that influenced Muddy Waters, Duane Allman, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones and all the other bands of today, this is the wellspring from which they got their sound, people such as Blind Willie McTell and Robert Johnson. Their songs were mostly those of the early gospel church and the juke joints, done by the street corner singers of the depression area that roamed the south and wandered from town to town playing on the streets for the change that came to them. They set up and often had a sidekick who accompanied them on what ever they could find such as boxes, percussive instruments, foot stomps and hollers. The songs on this disc all come from the church and his focus is on the sacred rather than the profane. These are a mixture of songs from then, blended with more modern songs (ie “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”) that fit the mixture of the dignity of the music.
Ben Bowen King’s resonator guitar is played almost in a claw and hammer banjo styling, which allows for a great deal of percussion that is integral to the overall sound. He also plays harmonica, jaw-bow, and the one stringed fiddle. He is accompanied by Covita Moroney on: vocals/moans, all percussion: Coke bottle, kitchen spoons, suitcase, bass drum, tambourine, Amen corner, bass guitar, and Salvation Army cymbals. Just the instrumentation alone tells you this is not an ordinary disc, and when you first put it on your jaw will drop with the beauty of the primitive sound these two can get. One of those rare discs that exceeds all expectations.