ARTiST: Corey Harris
TiTLE: Zion Crossroads
LABEL: Telarc
GENRE: Reggae
TiME: 50:43 min
SiZE: 66,8 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Jul-16-2007
RELEASE DATE: Jul-24-2007
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Ark Of The Covenant 03:41
02. No Peace For The Wicked 04:14
03. Heathen Rage 04:32
04. Sweatshop 03:57
05. In The Morning 05:24
06. Fire Go Come 03:49
07. Walter Rodney Intro 00:48
08. Walter Rodney 04:06
09. Afrique (Chez Moi) 03:16
10. Cleanliness 04:39
11. Plantation Town 04:00
12. You Never Know 04:20
13. Keep Your Culture 03:57
Release Notes:
"Harris has never failed to connect with the
wellsprings of his music,
be they Louisiana laborers or African girots. The
music he and his
band make on Zion Crossroads is a testament to that
quality; it's some
of the heaviest reggae recorded in the past 30
years... In an era where
sleazy 'dancehall' music threatens to obliterate the
"cultural" reggae
that began to emerge from Jamaica in the 1970s,
Harris offers a
powerful and resonating message." Tuscaloosa News
"The CD is laced with messages and conscious lyrics
that would thrill
a lover of true reggae/roots and culture music. It's
really a
celebration of the 'overstanding' of this journey we
call life."
Carib News
"...one of the most vibrant reggae albums to be
released this year."
Global Rhythm
Born in Denver, CO on February 21, 1969, Corey
Harris got his first taste of the blues via his
mother's collection of Lightnin' Hopkins records. He
first picked up the guitar at age 12, and at the
same time developed his singing abilities in church
choirs. By high school, he was playing in rock
bands.
An anthropology major at Bates College in Maine,
Harris traveled to Camaroon to study African
linguistics, and returned there a couple years later
on a post-graduate fellowship. During these visits,
he soaked up as much African music as possible,
entranced by its complex polyrhythms.
After returning to the U.S., Harris taught English
and French in Napoleonville, LA, and spent his spare
time playing in the clubs, coffeehouses and street
corners of nearby New Orleans. He quickly developed
a local reputation that earned him a record deal
with the Alligator label, where he released his solo
acoustic1995 debut album, Between Midnight and Day,
a recording that showcased his mastery of numerous
variations on the delta blues style. This first
outing earned high marks from the critics - enough
to score a high-profile opening slot on tour with
Natalie Merchant.
Harris followed up with Fish Ain't Bitin' in 1997,
an album that featured more original material than
the previous recording and took him beyond the
confines of traditional blues by enlisting a New
Orleans-style brass section on several tracks. Two
years later, he released the even stronger set,
Greens from the Garden, a mix of original and cover
material that added layers of funk, R&B, reggae and
hip-hop to his already solid blues foundation.
Pianist Henry Butler's appearance on Greens served
as a segue to Vu-Du Menz, a Harris-Butler
collaboration released in 2000. This jazz-influenced
recording marked the end of Harris' tenure on
Alligator, and he moved to Rounder for the 2002
release of Downhome Sophisticate, an album that
added layers of African and Latin music to Harris'
ever-expanding palette.
In addition to his work in the recording studio,
Harris also made a foray into filmmaking when he
appeared in the Martin Scorsese documentary, Feel
Like Going Home, an installment in the blues series
that aired on PBS in 2003. In the film, Harris
explores African-American blues on a journey that
begins in the Mississippi delta and eventually takes
him to Mali, where he discovers still more layers of
African music to add to his repertoire. Harris
returned to Mali a few months later to record the
aptly titled Mississippi to Mali, a late 2003
release that mirrors the Scorsese film by seamlessly
welding traditional African music and
African-American blues.
The artistic and critical success continued in 2005
with Daily Bread, an album that synthesized various
shades and dimensions of African and African-America
music - blues, reggae, ska and even rap.
Harris joins the Telarc label in the summer of 2007
with the July 24 release of Zion Crossroads, an
album that reflects some of the artist's recent
travels to Ethiopia û and in so doing, brings the
reggae sensibilities of that culture to the
forefront of his music more than ever before.
"I wanted to do a record that blended all of my
influences, but that was all original at the same
time," says Harris. "So in that sense, there were
two sides to this project. There were the lyrics and
the concepts and the songwriting, and then there was
the music of it all too. That's why I called it Zion
Crossroads. It's a spiritual record, but at the same
time, it's talking about the crossroads û not just
the crossroads that we all understand in the blues
context, but in all the meanings of that word."