Jack Rose was a guitarist that I only recently learned of, and immediately wanted to listen to some of his music. Unfortunately, Rose passed away at the age of 38 in 2009 due to an untimely heart attack. He left behind an eclectic number of records, touching genres like ragtime, folk, country blues, experimental, raga, and American primitive guitar, which is a genre of guitar playing developed John Fahey. Not only does this mix of genres sound interesting, but I’ve been listening to a ton of John Fahey lately. This particular album, Jack Rose (2006), was one that was suggested to me by Apple Music, so I figured I’d check it out. On Discogs, the genres labeled for this album are country blues, acoustic, and experimental, so I’m pretty excited to give this one a listen. With that said, I’m going to jump on into the music.
“Levee” starts out with some incredibly flavorful raw, sliding blues guitar that makes me swear I was listening to John Fahey on a modern recording. Wow, this is sweet. The thudding trot of the bass note on the guitar gradually pulses this tune forward, while the winding and sliding melodic notes have a great bluesy folk sort of sound, as if the tune is being played on a wooden porch of a lonely house in a swampy area near the Mississippi Delta. Holy smokes, this is sweet. Great track to introduce the album, now I’m even more excited to hear the rest of it.
“Revolt” starts out with some super interesting acoustic guitar chords that land somewhere between a folksy cowboy soundtrack and an exploratory raga. Wow, this is sweet. I feel like I could listen to this for hours, and will undoubtedly be checking out more of Rose’s discography after I complete this play-through of the album. Holy smokes, this is sweet. It’s almost like the song you might here in a movie with a cowboy heading into a standoff, except he’s having the standoff against himself. Wow, great tune.
“St. Louis Blues” immediately has a super flavorful southern delta blues flavor that you might hear on an old blues record by someone like Blind Willie McTell. Oh wow, this is super tasty. There’s a bit of a meandering quality to the playing, almost as if Rose is rambling from town to town, hitting highs and lows along the way. Wow, this guitar playing is awesome. There sounds as if there’s multiple guitars playing alongside each other, but it’s almost assuredly just Rose on a single guitar. Wow, great track.
“Miss May’s Place” has a really flavorful quality to the guitar playing, with what sounds to be the open D string repeatedly getting thumped along to serve as the bass/rhythm of the track at the beginning, while even higher notes seem to move about and create a melody that encompasses the whole soundscape. Oh wow, this is sweet. The repetition of the D string as the bass note seems to change at a couple different times in the track to provide even more of a forward moving feeling in this track that nearly seems to move the narrative of the album along as the playing continues. Super sweet tune.
Oh wow, “Gage Blues” jumps right back with some really interesting major key blues flavors, as Rose seemingly takes you on another journey through some swampy wilderness in the south. Holy smokes, this tune has some great flavors. The high notes nearly seem to walk backwards down the neck with the different slides and bends while the bass notes keep the tune grounded to some degree as Rose doesn’t seem to let up for a single moment in terms of the intensity in this folksy, bluesy, and twangy acoustic tune. Great track.
Oh wow, “Spirits in the House” starts out with a deep bass note alongside some extremely high notes, almost as if he’s playing a chord with the high notes moved up a whole octave. Oh wow, this is super sweet. Rose is incorporating some of that raga flavor with the high melodic notes, all while the bass notes seem to drone and reverberate throughout the soundscape. The combination of earthy acoustic flavors, the droning quality of the bass notes, and the sliding twang of the melodic notes that evoke that sort of raga sensation all remind me a bit of Joe Diorio’s tune, “India”, off of his album, Solo Guitar (1975), mixed with a healthy dose of John Fahey. Wow, there’s a ton of feeling in the playing of this track. Oh wow, there’s a nearly mystical quality to the jangliness of the melodic notes while the bass notes seem to move the tune along. Wow, you can hear the different strikes of the pick and the different noises that are made as he moves about the neck of the guitar, almost reminding me of how you can overhear Keith Jarrett sigh and hum along at times during his piano performances. Oh wow, Rose has really weaved his way up and down the neck, and the result is something that once again evokes that fusion of raga with the sound of the delta blues. Wow, this tune has been quite a journey, and as the tune comes to the end it almost seems as though you’re suddenly on a raft moving down a fast-flowing river, with Rose paddling you safely back to land, or wherever it is he decides to take you. Wow, great track.
“Dark Was the Night” nearly has an abrupt sound of sorts at the beginning, which immediately enraptures you as though Rose is waking you from a slumber to look at the moon in the dark and starry night sky. Oh wow, this tune brings a ton of flavor in as the melodic notes ring out against the drone of the bass notes, with Rose scratching and sliding around to nearly turn a single fret into 3 or 4 different ones. Holy smokes, the sound of the resolution after the chaos of the scratching is both immense and very pleasing to the ear. Wow, Rose ties the song up nicely with a nearly earthy sound to this folksy bluesy twangy tune. Great tune, and a great way to tie together the album.
Holy smokes, this album was sweet. I find myself saddened that Rose had passed away so young, while extremely grateful because of the amount of music he did leave behind for the world to enjoy. The mixture of the earthy twang with the bluesy and folksy acoustic licks throughout, along with his incorporation of elements of raag/raga have left me immediately wanting to listen to more of Rose’s work. If you are a fan of John Fahey at all, or simply enjoy a tasty and twangy fusion of folk and delta blues with a helping of raga, you might want to consider checking out this album. If you do decide to give this album a listen, I sincerely hope you the enjoy the listening experience at least as much as I did.
-A