Joys Of Spring

John Fairhurst

Manchester appears to be a hotbed of acoustic musicians and many of them are refreshingly free-thinkers. John Fairhurst is one such player taking part in this active scene. He's a guitar fanatic with bags of wide-eyed creativity at his fingertips and 'Joys Of Spring', his new CD, is aptly named.

John's been playing guitar for most of his life. His dad got him into slide blues guitar when he was young and K.Sridhar opened his ears to Indian classical music when he was about eight. This recording took place largely in the countryside studio and has all the hallmarks of a modern day field recording with a buffed up sound quality.

John has some friends on board for this project who provide bass, harp, djembe and classical guitar. It's all fundamental to the overall sound but then so is some of the more unique percussion. Along with his healthy quota of guitars he never forgets his pan lid and pliers when taking a trip to the studio.

The spirit of Son House and Bukka White hang in the air when John has his resonator guitar in his hands and 'Obnox Stomp' is a jackhammer delta blues loaded with incendiary moments. Similarly 'Blues For Bill' is thrusting and angular and more than proves John's credentials as a bonafide mojo man.

Still firmly in six-string mode John leads us down a more pastoral path on 'Passing Time' with Nancy Elizabeth's harp layered on top for some seriously lilting multi-stringed ear candy. It's timeless and brimming with ideas and a good companion piece to 'At The River' where he shows off his more baroque style picking, not unlike messers Jansch and Renbourn in feel.

The album reveals a whole new facet when he shifts eastwards with esoteric raga-like runs that build to a frenzied mesh of strands towards the end of 'How Far How Fast'. Somehow it leaves us in a beautifully sophorific state, as if caught in the eye of a storm.

There's something paradoxical about 'Joys Of Spring'. Like a window onto someone's private world it has an unerring intimacy and yet there's a strong undercurrent of bold audacity. The result is that we can only expect the unexpected and that's a magical thing.

Dave Kushar