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review by Bill Binkelman One of my favorite acoustic guitarists, Ken Bonfield, has slid over into folk-singer/vocalist territory on his latest release, Harbor Town. About half the tracks feature Ken's tasteful and sublime gentle acoustic instrumentals, in the same vein as his earlier release, Mystic Morning. Unforced, soft, neither overly cheery nor moribund or morose, but somewhere in the middle, the music speaks of morning walks under cloudy skies or sipping coffee while sitting on the back porch during those lazy autumn afternoons, watching the dance of leaves across the grass. Bonfield's music always evokes strong emotions and vivid images from me. Harbor Town is no exception. For the sake of simplicity, I'll first comment on the instrumental tracks, then the folk songs. The recording opens with the title track, on which Bonfield is joined by Michael Manring on fretless bass (also contributing on the album are John Prunier on fretted bass, Pete Malaquias on percussion, and Masood Omari on tablas). "Harbor Town" is lovely, with a slow-paced rhythm in the music (no percussion), and a somewhat gentle rocking motion in Bonfield's playing, imparting a feeling of being on the water. "Renaissance" is sprightly in pace, but as he has always done, Bonfield plays with such grace and gentility that the song still feels "quiet" even though it's happy in sound. "Requiem" is appropriately thoughtful and reflective, one of the slower, more sedate pieces here. "And Now?" is also a melancholic number, although a little more uptempo than the previous piece. Other instrumental tunes include the short jaunty "Mesa Rag," on which Bonfield displays his adroit fretwork and the pensive "Nocturne (for Brendan)" (once again, the guitarist is assisted by Manring on the fretless bass). Since I seldom, if ever, critique lyrical content, I won't comment as much on the lyrics of Bonfield's songs, be they originals or covers. The cover tunes include one by a huge favorite of mine - the Nancy Griffith-penned "The Wing and the Wheel." Bonfield has a pleasant, low-key voice, not as deep or low as Leo Kottke, although he does remind me of Kottke just the same. Like his guitar playing, Bonfield's singing is never in-your-face dramatic, but works on a more subtle level. I wish I had a broader base of familiarity with current male folk singers so I could make an adequate comparison, but sadly I am quite out of touch with the genre these days. Besides "The Wing and the Wheel," he also covers John Gorka's "Mercy of the Wheels," the former being a sad lost-love-and-friends song, the kind that Griffith writes so well. Bonfield's originals include the earnest socio-political "Blind Man," "Our Love," a personal ode to reflecting on life (which he co-wrote with Julia Cameron), and the uptempo bluesy tune, "I'm Gone" a classic folk-blues track. Another blues number is "Poison," this one being more a down-and-out slower piece about a woman who done him wrong and the damage done. Even though there are more than a few vocal songs on Harbor Town, I think you should consider this CD if you are a fan of Bonfield's previous instrumental-only releases. The music is uniformly excellent and the vocal cuts carry the same musical motifs and themes as the instrumentals, so that a solid thread of continuity runs through the entire album. Oddly enough, even though Bonfield is singing "real" songs and the words are the "point" of the compositions, you could probably just enjoy this recording by letting it wash over you. Obviously, I'm sure the artist would like you to listen to what the songs have to say, and I think you should, but since Wind and Wire is a primarily instrumental review site, I want to urge "purists" that Harbor Town is so damn enjoyable that even if you usually have disdain for folk songs, you may make an exception for this CD. The music is not in the least commercial-sounding, but carries that now-familiar mixture of sincerity, accessibility and warmth that other Bonfield releases, such as Homecoming, specialize in delivering. While I was hesitant to ask Ken to send me this album when I discovered it was half-filled with vocal cuts, I'm sure glad I did. That said, though, please Ken - don't give up the instrumentals any time soon. 'Cause you sure can play. |
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