David Johansen is a true musical chameleon. Whether fronting the influential punk band the New York Dolls, lounging it up as Buster Poindexter or invoking the blues with the Harry Smiths, he has always demonstrated his unique talent for taking a musical style and making it his own. On David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, David and his first-rate band summon the spirit of the blues through American musicologist/folklorist Harry Smith. Featuring gripping performances of songs by Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt and Bob Dylan.
Main Artists David Johansen and The Harry Smiths
Joey Baron, percussion
Kermit Driscoll, bass, didjeridu
David Johansen, guitar, harmonica, vocals
Brian Koonin, guitar, mandolin
Larry Saltzman, banjo, guitar
Producer David Chesky, Brian Koonin
Executive Producer Norman Chesky, Hank Medress
Engineer Sandy Palmer Grassi, Nicholas Prout, Barry Wolifson
Assistant Engineer Rick Eckerle, Peter Volpe
Editing Engineer Nicholas Prout
Mastering Engineer Nicholas Prout
Recorded on November 29 - December 2, 1999.
This album was made with the purest audio path, using the very best microphones, mic preamps, analog-to-digital converters, recorders, and cables with careful attention to detail to produce the most transparent and natural sound available today.
David Johansen and The Harry Smiths (JD196)
Chesky Records
Genre: blues
Cover photo by Kate Simon.
Reviews
"David Johansen brings it all back home to Harry Smith, in repertoire and name a perfect example of the circular logic of American-folk geography. A former New York Doll, Johansen is an unlikely hobo-like blues man, and his Harry Smiths ... are sly groovers who seem, at first, to be overqualified for barn-dance work. Yet Johansen is a believable avatar of Smith's scholarship ... he sings 'Poor Boy Blues' like a fragment of Latin Mass." - Rolling Stone
