[FM] REVIEW: Ben Murray and Siobhan Quinn "Two Rivers"

[Alan Rowoth]

Personally, I could have been very satisfied with a Ben Murray CD.

He's a great singer and a *masterful* guitarist. His voice is rich 
and warm in that Gordon Lightfoot sort of way and he moves fluidly 
between every guitar style in the book. Acoustic, electric, blues, 
jazz, folk, trad, bottleneck. He can do it all and he seamlessly 
weaves that into his work. Yet, as great as Ben is, at some level in 
the industry he probably would have been regarded as just another 
WhiGWAG (White Guy With A Guitar). There are dozens of seasoned 
professional players foaming just under the surface of the mainstream 
here in FolkWorld. Every once in a while someone like Ellis Paul 
bubbles to the top and glitters in the sunshine, but for every Ellis 
there are a dozen more WhiGWAGs who are just one hit record away from 
the kind of success that Shawn Mullins now enjoys. It's a very tough 
market segment to distinguish yourself in.

Enter Siobhan Quinn. She's an absolutely amazing singer, nothing 
short of transcendant. By turns her voice reminds me of Bonnie Raitt 
and Mary Black. It is her contribution that puts this CD over the top 
and makes it an instant classic. When I first heard it, I thought I 
had stumbled across a long lost Bonnie Raitt album, but on closer 
examination, I discovered a rich pastiche of styles and influences, a 
subtle amalgam of distinct flavors and textures that brought a little 
something new to the record on each listening. Ben's guitar holds it 
all together and Siobhan's voice provides the wings to make it fly. I 
haven't been able to get "Two Rivers" out of my car player in about 
two weeks.

There is a third, invisible, partner in this mayhem. Engineer, 
coproducer, and bassist Scott Petito took a superb cast of backing 
musicians and made magic. The performances, production, and 
arrangements on this freshman release are the equal of any major 
label release. It is sonically impeccable. Even though two of my 
favorite songs are Siobhan's haunting a capella rendition of the 
traditional "Oh My Donald" and their live acoustic duet "Samson and 
Delilah", I'm continually drawn back to the wonderful ensemble 
arrangements on the rest of the disc.

So this record must be a perfect 10, eh?

Regretably not quite. My only qualm with it is in the song selection. 
The songs are all strong songs and they run the gamut of styles that 
allow Ben and Siobhan to really stretch out. All are eminently 
listenable. There were some welcome surprises like covers of Erica 
Wheeler's "Diner" and Mikki Bakkens' "Here on Earth", but some of the 
songs (like Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" and Michael Murphy's 
"Geronimo's Cadillac") have already found their signature version. As 
good as they are, I keep wishing those slots had gone to great songs 
that I had never heard before.

I often think that singer songwriters should cover more of their 
contemporaries. GMC's motto is "Do one thing. Do it well." There is a 
certain freedom in being primarily performers and not songwriters. 
Unencumbered by the need to hawk their own songs, Murray and Quinn 
are free to showcase their prestigious talents by exploring the full 
range of unexploited musical gems that most audiences have never 
heard, rather than rehashing album cuts from major label releases. I 
hope that they choose to do so on their next album. Until then, this 
one is going to hold me just fine.

I give it a 10 for Context and a 7 for Content.

You need to check these guys out. You can visit their web site at 
http://www.bmsq.com/ and graze the sound bites. I saw them perform 
live at Folk Alliance and they totally knocked me out, so keep your 
eye on Musi-cal and check them out when they come your way.

Coming soon, reviews on the latest releases from Johnsmith, Bernice 
Lewis, and John Cowan.

aloha,
Alan

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