Compton and Newberry
Listening to the new duo CD from Mike Compton and Joe Newberry feels like reading the manuscript of a lost Faulkner novella discovered at a flea market in Mike Compton’s native Lauderdale County, Mississippi. The stories are real and raw, but disclosed in measured doses, through voices at times tortured and others reverent. It’s music from America’s earliest immigrants’ oldest times, laid down on clawhammer banjo, mandola and mandolin, and big-bodied guitar by two of America’s finest practitioners of the art form.
Covering 11 mostly obscure or original tracks, Home In My Heart gives the listener a deep dive into the country blues, work songs and field hollers, and other old-timey styles that fed Bill Monroe’s inspiration for modern bluegrass. Throughout, the talented duo lays out a masterpiece of wailful vocals, churning instrumental power on tunes like “Last Chance,” and thoughtful interpretations of songs that likely immigrated from the British Isles and matured and developed into their present forms throughout the lonesome hills of Appalachia and New England.
Monroephiles cite Compton frequently as perhaps the preeminent modern practitioner of the forceful mandolin style Big Mon pioneered, and that influence certainly abounds here. But Mississippi-native Compton grew up on blues, old-school country, and other influences outside of the bluegrass cannon, incorporating many of those stylistic influences here. His longtime musical partner, banjo/guitar/vocalist Joe Newberry, a Missouri native who now resides in North Carolina, plays the perfect foil here both vocally and instrumentally on rocketing, rollicking clawhammer banjo and deep-bellied slope-shouldered dreadnought backup guitar.
Years of touring and playing gigs have forged a unique sound between the two, like on the opening track, “Careless Love,” which would have sounded perfectly in place on the Oh, Brother movie soundtrack. Searingly intimate, the listener feels the loss and heartbreak in the vocals and accompaniment to the marrow. Similar emotional power infuses Cousin Emmy’s “Graveyard,” where the fear of eternity in a lonesome graveyard brings the listener face-to-face with their own mortality. Same for their Grammy-eligible track, “Cherry River Line,” with its haunting melody and poignant lyrics.
The most-recognized tune here will be “New Five Cents,” which Compton recorded decades ago with guitar genius David Grier on their Rounder CD Climbing The Walls. There’s also a wonderfully obscure Benny Martin tune, “Silvertone Blues,” where Mr. Compton handles the lead vocals and lays out his bluesiest Monroe-style mandolin licks.
Taken as a whole, Home In My Heart provides an open window into the sound and soul of pre-bluegrass country music. The tones are ancient, but the intentions are infused with modern influences, making this a recording both densely layered, yet open and accessible to the modern listener. Great stuff here.
