the hum / By Bob Doran

Sons of Harry Smith

Alt. roots by O’Death, Ghostwriter, Lightnin’ Woodcock, etc.

(Nov. 20, 2008)  It was way back in 1952 when mystic artist, experimental filmmaker, ethnomusicologist and record collector Harry Smith assembled The Anthology of American Folk Music, an annotated box set with selections from his vast collection of 78s in the blues, country, old timey and gospel vein. Smith’s masterwork influenced musicians from Bob Dylan to the Grateful Dead, turning them on to tunes and styles most had never heard. The legacy of Smith and the artists he anthologized carries through to a new generation in the wide array of alt. roots music heard in nightclubs and cafes across the country — and here in Humboldt.

For example: Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Jambalaya, Portland’s raw bucket ’n slide country blues boys Hillstomp share a bill with New Yorkers O’Death, a Goth country punk combo touring behind their new CD Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin, which is quite good, with raggedy old timey banjo and fiddles sharing space with guitars and drums on dark songs about life, love and, yes, death. If Harry Smith was still around, this is the music he’d be into.

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The next night, Friday, Nov. 21, Ghostwriter plays Big Pete’s Pizza. Ghostwriter is the nom-de-band for Austin musician Steve Schecter, whose solo act finds him kicking out rhythms with a homemade foot-percussion device as he strums his hollow-body guitar and occasionally blows a harmonica on primal folk/punk blues.

My newest MySpace friend Lightnin’ Bill Woodcock in back in town for a pair of shows. The Eureka native with amazing muttonchops plays a mix of classic blues and raunchy originals he calls “electrified psycho-delta blues/punk” on Thursday at the Pearl Lounge and Friday at the Jambalaya. Opening for both gigs, the local band Blue Rhythm Review. “We’re a soul band,” says SoHum native James Moore, BRR drummer, “but we’ll try to funk it up a bit for the crowd. What we try to do is get people up and dancing.” The line-up: “We have Samantha Toste from Vintage Soul on vocals, Dan Perez from Arcata Music on guitar, Zach Stone on sax. Tim Day plays bass, he’s in Vintage Soul too, but on drums.”

Prog-rock guitar slinger Wolf Navarro has back-to-back gigs with his power trio Silent Giants. Thursday, Nov. 20, they’re at Humboldt Brews with honky tonk heroes Rooster McClintock and self-described “melodic rock heart-throbs,” The Common Vice. Friday the Giants hit the Red Fox with worldly “Afrock” band WoMama.

Lots going down in the hip hop world: Thursday, Nov. 20, at Mazzotti’s Bonus brings in Oakland rapper Keak Da Sneak, the guy who coined the term “hyphy.” S.F.’s San Quinn will be along to “Shock the Party” along with Oaktown duo The Game Brothas.

Same Thursday at the Kate Buchanan Room, it’s a benefit for the HSU Ski/Snowboard Club with local boys Subliminal Sabotage and Bay Area rap duo Caldecott Connection (named for the tunnel) plus “special guests.” Showtime 9 p.m.

Saturday at the Fox, That’s How We Roll presents a hip hop blast featuring L.A. rhymer Abstract Rude along with DJ Drez and Myka 9 and the proverbial “special guests.” Ab got his start working with Aceyalone at the seminal open mic scene at a vegetarian restaurant called The Good Life, which spawned Project Blowed. He later assembled Abstract Tribe Unique with a pair of dancers and DJ Drez on turntables, then Haiku D’Etat with Acey and Mykah 9. On a semi-related note, did y’all see in the Lumberjack about the new owner of O-H’s Townhouse? Gil Miracle of High Art is part of the local hip hop crew Opti-Pop. Apparently his plan is to turn the old school steak house into a nightclub called The Life.

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