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'I've moved on to another victim, but I'm still a maniac.'
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The first chords on the radio screamed 'Moving Day.' It hasn't been heard it in years, and what a sporty version. Who could it be jazzing up this old Charlie Poole chestnut? It sounds like Loudon Wainwright III. Since there's nobody who sounds like LWIII but himself, this bears investigation. A search turned up an entire two-CD tribute to Charlie Poole, High Wide & Handsome (Second Story), that features Wainwright and his extended musical family ' kids, exes, former in-laws, sister.
Wainwright is best known for his clever songwriting. Namesake son of Life mag editor, product of dad's alma mater (that once thoroughly WASP bastion of Epicopalian refinement, St. Andrews in Middletown DE) he has all the advantages for refined and imaginative writing. But the whole time he was studying in Delaware Wainwright recalls carefully choosing his weekends to come north to Philly. 'I'd come up to the Second Fret to see my heroes like Ramblin' Jack Eliott and Jim Kweskin.'
Take note of those names, both known wild men.
During his formation as a folk-inspired writer there was a general revival of interest in the late '20s/early '30s recordings made by Charlie Poole. Poole was a Carolina banjo picker who favored large living and silly songs like 'Moving Day' and 'The Man Who Rode the Mule Around the World' (both respectfully updated by Wainwright and Co.). Poole was also the first to have a huge hit with rural sounds. People of the Great Folk Music Scare of the '60s loved reissues of his stuff and attempting to play it exactly as he had. Now Wainwright is bound to see that the 20-aughts catch Poole fever as well.
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As Wainwright writes in the lavishly annotated booklet, there was a time when he identified with Poole so strongly he thought he might even write a motion picture about the showman ' and star in it. That project never got done, but when Dick Connette approached Wainwright to do a tribute recording, it didn't take much persuasion.
The result, High Wide & Handsome, the Charlie Poole Project (Second Story) lives appropriately large, two CDs and a nice thick booklet packed with notes and reproduced sheet music, photos plus lyrics for every song. The songs are split between numbers popularized by Poole and Wainwright originals that tell Poole's short but vivid life story. Among the graphics is a postcard he sent home from Chester PA, reproduced with its 1920 postmark, is tantalizing mystery as to our southerly neighbor's connection to old time music in that era.
The package works well in telling Poole's bio, from the title song that explains what Wainwright figures to have been the Poole motto to 'The Man in the Moon' written from the perspective of Poole's longsuffering wife. The latter is sung by former in-law Maggie Roche with such touching tenderness it begged the question, 'Is that you as much as Charlie?' Yeah, he admits, he can be tough to be married to. 'I've moved on to another victim,' he chortles, 'but I'm still a maniac.'
It took over two years complete the recording. 'We had a ball making the record. It was done over a long time,' says Wainwright. But that allowed family members with conflicting schedules to all contribute. The collection works so well musically and narratively it begs a Broadway show more than a feature movie.
Given the difficulty of getting Rufus and Martha and the Roches free for even the one night they performed the CD live in NYC earlier this fall, let alone the instrumentalists like Chris Thile and Chaim Tannenbaum, Dana Lynn and Rayna Gellert, a long running show is unlikely. But load the CDs so the songs play in sequence and imagine you're listening to a live radio broadcast from back in the day. It will take you there.
Fri., Dec. 4, 8 p.m., $29-$37, Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Ave, Glenside, 215-572-7650, keswicktheatre.com.
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