Canadian bluesman Michael Jerome Browne has been traveling the back roads of the music business for decades. A gifted guitarist, Browne showcases his talents with old time country blues on his excellent Gettin’ Together, the recording of which he describes as “therapeutic” after the isolation of the COVID pandemic.
“It’s been a long three years,” Browne writes in the liner notes. “As musicians, playing for an audience and playing with other musicians is what we crave. We need help!”
“This music was originally created by African Americans in the United States,” Browne continues, “It was born out of tremendous hardship. I do not own it; I am merely borrowing it, and I try to be true to its origins.”
I have to confess I was unfamiliar with Browne until I listened to this record. Browne, however, has been familiar to Canadian blues audiences for many years, first as a sideman in the Stephen Barry Band and then as a solo artist since his inaugural album, Drive On, in 2002. Born in South Bend, Indiana, Browne moved to Montreal with his parents, where he began playing in folk and coffee houses as a teenager before touring with Barry.
He describes the process of getting a studio session together with Mary Flower and others, the result of which is a simple home-spun, traditional country blues record. Joining Browne and Flower on the album are a host of blues Iand pop) heavyweights, including Eric Bibb, John Sebastian, Colin Linden, Harrison Kennedy, Stephen Barry (Browne’s former boss), John McColgan, Teilhard Frost and Happy Traum. Together, the crew created a simple, straight-forward acoustic blues album that is definitely worth a listen, with its echoes of Mississippi John Hurt and Son House.
About the author: Bill Wilcox is a roots music enthusiast recently relocated from the Washington, DC area to Philadelphia, PA and back again.