Michael Jerome Browne

The blues is a common thread that runs through virtually all of the music derived from the early American South, and nobody “gets” this connection better than internationally acclaimed singer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Jerome Browne.

Browne performs everything from old Appalachian music to Chicago blues with such captivating authenticity that he’s earned three Juno nominations in two distinct categories. His self-titled debut and its follow-up, Drive On, were each nominated for Best Blues Album. His third recording, the old-time collection Michael Jerome Browne and the Twin Rivers String Band, received a nomination in the Roots and Traditional Group category.

Now Browne ties all these genres together on a new double disc set that demonstrates his phenomenal feel for a variety of blues traditions. Double includes a reissue of his previously-hard-to-get acoustic blues debut along with a brand new collection of songs recorded live at Montreal’s Main Hall.

The Main Hall collection opens with rootsy acoustic covers of J.B. Lenoir’s “Play a Little While” and the traditional number “Sugar Baby” and later moves into rockin’ territory with renditions of J.B. Hutto’s “Please Help” and the trad piece “Don’t Hang My Clothes on no Barbed Wire Line.” Special guest Sue Foley sits in on several numbers, including Bo Diddley’s “Dearest Darling” and Big Mama Thornton’s “Ball and Chain.” Harmonica master Bharath Rajakumar can be heard on Otis Rush’s “Sit Down Baby” among other tracks.

Hardcore blues fans will already be familiar with Browne’s 1998 debut CD, but those who aren’t will be thrilled to discover it. Featuring pared-down arrangements of often just guitar and voice, Browne nonetheless pulls off a “big” and varied sound by showing off a myriad of different guitar styles and injecting his vocals with raw emotion. The repertoire ranges from the traditional Cajun fiddle medley “La Danse Carree / La Belle Catherine” to a rootsy cover of Hendrix’s “Manic Depression.” Swing sensation Susie Arioli sings back-up on “I Want to Go Home,” while legendary Atlantic Records session pianist and Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame member (the late) Vann “Piano Man” Walls can be heard on three tracks, including “Gambling Blues.”

Throughout both albums, Browne’s laid-back yet expressive singing style and groovy evocative playing conjures up mental images of everything from a southern back porch to a smoky Chicago blues bar. Given the feeling with which he performs cuts like “Cool Drink of Water” it’s easy to understand why the late Long John Baldry once wrote of Browne that he “gives me that kind of tingle like when I first heard Lead Belly and Big Bill Broonzy.”

Browne’s taste for early American roots music was fostered early in life. Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1960, he is the son of English professors whose love of music and poetry inspired them to take their nine-year-old son to the great jazz, blues and folk clubs in their adopted home of Montreal. It was there that Browne first heard the likes of Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Lightnin’ Hopkins. By the age of fourteen he was performing professionally on the seventies coffeehouse scene, playing guitar, banjo and harmonica and singing.

Today, Michael Jerome Browne tours frequently in Canada, the U.K., Australia, Europe and the United States. He’s performed at Carnegie Hall with Kate and Anna McGarrigle, in the studio with Taj Mahal and Eric Bibb, and on tour with Guy Davis. He’s been honoured with a Maple Blues Award for Acoustic Artist of the Year and a Real Blues magazine award for Best Acoustic Blues Artist. Sing Out magazine calls him “one of today’s most accomplished interpreters of traditional musical styles.”