Jayme Stone's Folklife

An extension of his 2015 Lomax Project, the renowned Canadian banjoist Jayme Stone now presents us with Jayme Stone's Folklife, a treasure trove of songs mostly derived from the seemingly inexhaustible archives of folklorists John and Alan Lomax. The ten tracks on Folklife include cleverly reworked interpretations of a children's song (‘Candy Gal’), a Caribbean dance tune (‘Mwen Pas Danse’), a square dance number (‘Hey, Lally Lally Lo’) and ‘Wait on the Rising Sun’, which is a gospel song that was documented in 1939 not by the Lomaxes, but by one Herb Alpert, another prolific field-recording enthusiast working under the auspices of the Library of Congress. Stone's superlative supporting cast includes Moira Smiley (vocals, accordion and hambone), Sumala Jackson (vocals and fiddle) and Joe Phillips (bass and marimba). On the rollicking folk ramble ‘Buttermilk’, Dom Flemons, the Carolina Chocolate Drops founder, sings and plays guitar, bones (wooden clappers) and quills (a primitive instrument made with sugar cane reeds), accompanied by Stone's banjo and Ron Miles on trumpet.

In his liner notes, Stone writes, ‘I'm no collector, nor am I particularly nostalgic,’ and that's a good thing. Refreshingly, Stone's approach to this material is devoid of stifling sentimentality or a misguided quest for authenticity.