Day by Day

At 83 years old, Blake is poised to take his place in the Americana pantheon. In the 1960s he made his mark playing in the house band on The Johnny Cash Show and accompanying Bob Dylan on Nashville Skyline. In the 70s, he played a pivotal role in the development of ‘newgrass’ and drew acclaim for his work with folk, country and roots artists such as Joan Baez, Doc Watson and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Decades later, he played on the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which fuelled a 21st century mini-bluegrass revival.

In 2020, when Smithsonian Folkways acquired Plectrafone, Day by Day, recorded in single takes during one afternoon session, came with the territory. Naturally, Blake’s distinctly expressive guitar and plaintive banjo picking are ever-present, but the music derives much of its power and lyrical beauty from the artist’s soft croaky voice and insightful rendering of the material, which includes venerable American folk songs and ballads, as well as original tunes. ‘Montcalm and Wolfe’, arguably the album’s finest track, is a reworking of an 18th-century French and Indian War epic, which Blake learned from Adirondack folk singer ‘Yankee John’ Balusha.