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REVIEW

Sing Out!By: Tom Druckenmiller
Sing Out!
Autumn '09/Winter '10


Formed in 2007, The Haints (a Southern word meaning spirit or ghost) are a talented trio of players who, althrough hailing from Canada, play old-time string band music of the American South. Fiddler Erynn Marshall traveled for a few years between Toronto, West Virginia and Kentucky until recently settling in Galax, VA. She has made several fiddle recordings, and has written a wonderful remembrance of the many old-time musicians she has encountered called Music in the Air Somewhere: The Shifting Borders of West Virginia's Fiddle and Song Traditions (West Virginia University Press).

Guitarist and vocalist Pharis Romero, from Horsefly, B.C., played for many years in her family country band when not concentrating on the classical vocal repertoire. Her husband, Jason Romero, is a fine banjo player and instrument maker who spent time in the bluegrass and old-time scene in Northern California before relocating to Canada.

Shout Monah opens with "Knoxville Rag," from the playing of the legendary Kentucky musicians Rutherford and Burnett. The tune features phrases of various lenghts, and the banjo and guitar easily keep up and drive this wonderful tune. "Lowe Bonnie" follows. It is a variation of the Child Ballad "Young Hunting" as sung by Jimmie Tarlton in the 1930s. The lovely close harmony of Pharis and Jason cloaks its ancient antecedents. The banjo/guitar medley of "Devil's Dream/Last Chance" is up next. Jason has taken his arrangement of the first tune from Mike Seeger, while Hobart Smith is of course the source for the second.

Later Erynn offers a great rendition of French Carpenter's "Old Christmas Morning." She captures what is so wonderful about solo West Virginia fiddling, with its extended phrases and modal harmony. "Bob McKinney," from Texas blues musician Henry Thomas, is sung in a sweet style that masks the violent story of a truly bad man. The CD concludes with "Life's Fortune," a waltz written by Erynn for Jason and Pharis in celebration of their marriage. A highlight is the harmony fiddle of Daniel Lapp.

The Haints are not a wild and wooly string band. They produce a delicate sound full of all the richness that traditional music offers. This is a very special recording, one that I'll return to time and again. - TD