photo by Nickolai Hammar
AUDIO REVIEW:
review by Jacob Zlomke and Chance Solem-Pfeifer
On Daddy Told Me, the newest release by blues outfit Shawn Holt and the Teardrops, Holt and company have no ambitions of great artistic endeavor. The album doesn’t stretch our conceptions of genre, it takes no philosophical stand, it’s not anything blues listeners haven’t heard before.
And that’s OK.
The album doubles down on the genre’s love for emphasizing feeling. The technical simplicity of the guitar, the repetitive structure of the songs, it’s all there as a platform, a blank slate, on which to build a solo: the ultimate, wordless expression of attitude, sadness, elation.
In person, the experience of the solo, no matter which instrument, can be captivating. Watching a musician speak through his instrument, listening and feeling him or her reach deeper parts of your soul than most words could, that’s what the blues do.
On record, though, it’s possible to wonder if some of that connection gets fuzzy. A guitar solo on stage has nearly limitless potential for improvisation and it’s coupled with the guitarist’s physical presence. Not only do you hear what the guitarist is feeling, but you get to see it in his movement, his facial expressions.
The recorded version misses out on both those aspects. While a guitar or bass part may have been improvised when it came time to record, it exists exactly like that forever. It can be too easy to ignore the depth of instrumental parts when it’s not right in front of your face, and instead only in your ears.
It seems problematic, but that's the nature of hearing 12 extended solos confined to a recorded space." Daddy Told Me certainly addresses thematic issues, the same heartbreak, etc. found on a large part of blues records, but the album hardly exists as the final product. It’s a snapshot of part of an ever-growing and changing repertoire and style.
While the blues style may be somewhat rigidly defined compared to newer genres, blues on the whole will never be complete, because the depth and range of emotion will forever be only fleetingly expressible.
Daddy Told Me is formulaic, but it’s not a math equation. The formula exists only as foundation, and from there it’s up to Holt to reach out and grab the audience by the gut, to make them relate with notes on a guitar.
Jacob Zlomke is Hear Nebraska’s editorial intern. He doesn’t feel hair metal in his bones. Reach Jacob at jacobz@hearnebraska.org.