Love My Stuff

Rhode Island-based guitarist Paul Geremia’s peripatetic career is much like that of the country bluesmen of the ’20s and ’30s whose music he’s interpreted for the past 40 years—always on the road. In the liner notes to an earlier Red House CD he writes, “When I started making a living at music I thought I’d found the perfect solution. I could live the life of a drifter and get paid for it,” and signs off with, “See you down the road.” When, back in 1984, the road led him to Chico he said of the men whose music he plays, “I don’t try to do the old songs exactly like they did. I don’t think they played them the same way all the time, either.” This disc is a collection of 18 songs, performances recorded over the past three decades in venues from California to New York with Geremia refurbishing and renovating the timeless themes of (among others) Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly and Blind Willie McTell, plus three of his own songs in a style not far removed from that of his heroes. Geremia’s finger-picking on both six- and 12-string guitars is a pure delight and is matched by his strong vocals and occasional harp playing.