Innes Campbell CD Review

by | 12 Aug, 2010

Reviewed by Greg McGrath

Innes Campbell and Present Company – Something Quick and Neat.

To describe Innes Campbell as a guitar player is somewhat of an understatement. In 2009 the folks at Tamworth awarded him the title of National Guitar Champion. This CD highlights Innes’s extraordinary guitar work and gives credence to the fact that his is not only one of the country’s best flatpickers, but a talented songwriter also.

Innes Campbell has delivered a range of music styles in this CD. Seven of the fourteen tracks are original songs or tunes with influences from the folk, country, swing and bluegrass. As a very capable song writer he covers topics ranging from the serious (with questions to the overly serious Richard Dawkins) to the absurd (bemoaning the fact that his baby has contracted a case of the dreaded the swine flu). His arrangements of traditional tunes like St Anne’s Reel, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Big Sandy River and Beaumont Rag are further testament to his musical dexterity.

This CD features a host of other great musicians in his band Present Company with Luke Moller on mandolin, Mark Webber on bass, George Jackson on fiddle and The Davidson Brothers also playing banjo and mandolin.

I have had this CD playing in my car for the past three weeks. Nothing disappoints in this CD and there is every reason to add it to your collection.

Innes Campbell and Present Company – Something Quick and Neat.

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