Des sons hypnotiques qui mèlent musique traditionnelle du centre de la France et blues
Une guitare, une voix, une vielle et des percussions
« Hot blues for a cold winter, » announces The BluzNdaBlood‘s Dave Harrison for its 283rd show, broadcasted on January 26, 2018.
« Here is a great song, that’s a cover of an R.L. Burnside number. Muddy Gurdy is a French band. They met a bunch of the North Mississippi Hill Country blues bloodline, that features Cedric Burnside, Cameron Kimbrough, Pat Thomas, and Sharde Thomas. Enjoy! »
Muddy Gurdy will be released on February 2, 2018, by Vizztone.
The story starts at 43:26.
John Cushley aired Muddy Gurdy’s version of That Girl is Bad, featuring Cedric Burnside, during his Balling the Jack show on Resonance FM in London.
A wonderful project called Muddy Gurdy. The voice you heard that was Cedric Burnside, of the Burnside dynasty of North Mississippi. The project is basically a French band called The Hypnotic Wheels traveling to North Mississippi with a hurdy gurdy, and collaborating with lots of local musicians, including Sharde Thomas, Cameron Kimbrough, Cedric Burnside, Pat Thomas.
The whole project has come together incredibly well. It has got this hypnotic drive, atmosphere, with this edge European of experimentalism underpending it under the hurdy gurdy. A marvelous cross-cultural coalition. Beautiful stuff.
Listen at 27:30 (and the rest of the show as well, as Muddy Gurdy is in really great company, including Etta James and Dorothy Love Coates), and John Cushley’s beautiful critique of the project and the album.
And the link to Balling the Jack for more shows…
Italian journalist Nicola NiQ Conforti enjoyed Shake Em on Down, one of the songs included in Muddy Gurdy, Hypnotic Wheel’s second album to be released on February 2, 2018, which he played on the 184th of his Blues Top 10 show.
« Muddy Gurdy’s name is inspired by the hurdy gurdy, an instrument with a crank, typical in Europe, » explained Nicola NiQ Conforti.
Go to 9:50:
The Muddy Gurdy CDs made it to France, arriving from the US. A unique project, when French hurdy gurdy meets Mississippi Hill Country.
Official release, with Vizztone, on February 2, 2018.
Hypnotic Wheels traveled to Leland, Mississippi, for their Muddy Gurdy project. There they met a unique and so very endearing bluesman, Pat Thomas.
« It’s pretty! » said Pat when he saw and heard the hurdy gurdy. He invited the trio, Tia Gouttebel, Gilles Chabenat, and Marc Glomeau, to visit his father (James Son Thomas)’s grave at the cemetary, where he talked about the family history.
Back at the Highway 61 Museum in Leland, where James Moss greated them, the trio recorded a song with Pat for their new album —a very intense moment for the band.
Pat also creates sculptures, like his father did.
You can acquire one of Pat Thomas’ unique art works by participating to the Muddy Gurdy crowdfunding, along with other happies…
To record their second album, The Muddy Gurdy Mississippi Project, the Hypnotic Wheels trio (Tia Gouttebel, guitar, vocals; Marc Glomeau, percussion; and Gilles Chabenat, hurdy gurdy), traveled to the North Mississippi Hill County and the Delta. They met with descendents of emblematic bluesmen from the area: Cedric Burnside (R. L.’s grandson), Sharde Thomas (Otha Turner’s grand-daughter), Cameron Kimbrough (Junior’s grandson), and Pat Thomas ( James Son’s son).
« The sociologist, researcher, and journalist Scott Barretta –a reference in the domain– already told the Hypnotic Wheels musicians: «What makes your project so unique is that you didn’t come here just to take, but to give and to share, bringing something from your culture. »
The choice of the locations, the nomadic conditions of recording, the fact that they brought whith them a unique cultural element of our folklore, the hurdy gurdy, their generosity made of this musical and human adventure a rare and unique moment. A story which is told from the inside by one of the musicians –which is rather rare, a choice made by our magazine. What you will read, listen to and watch can only intice you to want to learn more about the project.
By Marcel Benedit, in ABS Magazine.
Read the full editorial by Marcel Bénédit and the story written by Marc Glomeau.
When Cedric Burnside discovers the hurdy gurdy…
R.L. Burnside’s grandson is the first of the four guest musicians invited on Hypnotic Wheels’ second album. An enriching experience for Cedric, who won a Grammy nomination in 2016 for his Descendants of Hill Country album. But also for the Hypnotic Wheels trio –Tia Gouttebel on vocals and guitar, Gilles Chabenat on the hurdy gurdy, Marc Glomeau on percussion.
The recording was done by Pierre Bianchi in Como, in the North Mississippi Hill Country. Images are by Yannick Demaison.
Become a coproducer of this unique project thanks to the crowdfunding.
Travel to Mississippi with Hypnotic Wheels… The trio –Tia Gouttebel on guitar and vocals, Gilles Chabenat on the hurdy gurdy, Marc Glomeau on percussion–, along with Pierre Bianchi, sound engineer, and Yannick Demaison, for the photos and videos, spent a whole month in Mississippi, in April and May 2017, to record their second album with prestigious guests: Cedric Burnside, Shardé Thomas, Cameron Kimbrough, and Pat Thomas.
Here is a short video to discover the project…
You’d be amazed how well the hurdy gurdy can blend with blues. Help my friends out by supporting this campaign.
— Greg Johnson, Blues Curator and Associate Professor in the department of Archives and Special Collections, at the University of Mississippi
Hello all y’all. As some of you might know we, the Hypnotic Wheels trio, just spent almost a month in Mississippi. The idea was to bring the hurdy-gurdy there and to record an album with musicians who are descendants of emblematic musicians in North Mississippi Hill Country blues, Cedric Burnside, Sharde Thomas, Cameron Kimbrough, and from the Delta, Pat Thomas.
We are now back from his fabulous adventure, both musical and human, and are launching a GoFundMe to achieve what we started there. Become coproducers of this unique project —music without borders.
For the rewards, we chose to highlight more artists, from Mississippi and from France. Some of them are unique!
You can also find the Muddy Gurdy Mississippi Project on Facebook.
