Johnny Harper – Light of a New Day / Joy Street Records CD-1001

Description

Down Home Music is sad to hear of the passing of Johnny Harper Lumsdaine, who in 1976 was chosen by Chris Strachwitz to establish Down Home Music, and who gave the store its name. Johnny was store manager until the early 1980’s, when he left to pursue his musical dreams.
A remarkable guitarist with an encyclopedic knowledge of all styles of music, especially rock’n’roll, blues and the music of New Orleans, he led two bands, Hot Links and Carnival. He was a tireless contributor to the Bay Area folk music scene, writing many fine songs, produced numerous artists who benefited from his tasty arrangements, and seemingly played with the entire Bay Area music community. He produced Katie Webster‘s great Arhoolie album “You Know That’s Right” (Arhoolie CD393), and CDs for Mayne Smith, Wayde Blair, John McCord, and Genny Haley‘s upcoming release, among others.
He only released one official CD, 2017’s “Light of a New Day”, with his band Carnival, and it is a rousing and delightful distillation of his talents for songwriting/arranging/guitar wizardry, and passionate vocals. Up-tempo numbers like “Work with What You Got”, “Burning Up”, “Nothing but a Party” and the clever “Nine Lives”, fit nicely with laid-back songs like “Loafing on the Water” “I Found My Home(in Your Heart)” and “If the Good Lord’s Willing”.  A couple Allen Toussaint covers “Got Me a New Love Thing” and “”Hang Tough”, and a touching version of Woody‘s “This Land Is Your Land” round out a partial picture of Johnny’s tremendous musical vision. Hopefully, more unreleased recordings from his varied career will be made available in the future. In the meantime, enjoy this heartfelt release from our dear departed friend.

 

Tracklist

1. LIGHT OF A NEW DAY 4:55

2. WORK WITH WHAT YOU GOT 4:25

3. BURNIN’ UP 4:25

4. NOTHIN’ BUT A PARTY 4:20

5. LOVE’S LITTLE UPS AND DOWNS 4:05

6. GOT ME A NEW LOVE THING (Allen Toussaint) 3:50

7. LOAFIN’ ON THE WATER 5:27

8. I FOUND MY HOME (IN YOUR HEART) 4:35

9. GUMBO BLUES 5:25

10. NINE LIVES 5:20

11. THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND (Woody Guthrie) 4:25

12. IF THE GOOD LORD’S WILLING 4:30

13. HANG TOUGH / DON’T STOP NOW (Allen Toussaint
/ Pat Macdonald) 5:00