Review by Tracey Craig
Ithaca’s Tracey Craig hosts Rootabaga Bookie a folk and roots music series which airs on WITH 90.1 in Ithaca, New York and formerly hosted Nonesuch on WVBR 93.5 in Ithaca. Tracey Craig features an eclectic selection of folk and roots music, plus live music and conversation about music. The program airs Sundays, 10 a.m. to 12 noon.
Swingin’ originals with a bluegrass bounce and no square edges from four well traveled musicians who make their home in New York’s Finger lakes region. Longtime musical cohorts Danny Speer and Dee Specker join forces with Bobby and Doug Henrie on Circle D. Dee’s voice effortlessly sketches the smooth musical line on most of these original songs penned by Danny who plays finger-style rhythm guitar here and cello on one cut.
Dee rosins up her bow and adds fiddle deftly to the album too which was recorded in her home studio in Ithaca New York. Augmenting the Speer Specker Henrie sound Bobby Henrie struts his stuff with his signature show off guitar licks and lends a smokey baritone to the groups easy going three part vocal harmonies. Brother Doug Henrie keeps things rollin with his up tempo bluegrass influenced bass lines. These are friends and family playing together: seasoned musicians whose experience pleasantly blends jazz, bluegrass, swing and rockabilly working here in a mostly acoustic format.
With their intelligent quirky lyrics some cuts will make you think of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks in the good old days. “Happy Landing” has a beautiful bassline bounce and some stand-out flatpicking solos; the inscrutable “Blue-Glasses” offers a smooth, languid lounge-lizard lament; “Storm by Storm” has a wonderful home-y, folk-y feel, but the standout cut (to my ears anyway) is “Fountain of Youth” showcasing Dee’s vocals at their swinging suggestive best and some fine ensemble work. These guys have fun making music and it shows.
Danny and Dee previously released self-produced albums “The Curve” by Danny Speer and Dee Specker 2001, and “Black Hats” by the Circle D band 1992. Dee Specker released the self produced “Swingsation” in 1996 and is featured prominently on the Cornerstone CD’s “Out of the Valley’ and ‘Lonesome Town’ on the Folk Era label.
Bobby Henrie, the amazing soloist throughout the album “Circle D” is best known for his work as the leader of the rockabilly trio Bobby Henrie & The Goners.
Dee Specker and Bobby Henrie also play in the current incarnation of Cornerstone, while Doug Henrie is known for his work with the Woody Guthrie tribute tours and the Woodshed All-Stars.
Speer Specker Henrie is the latest project from four outstanding musicians from the Finger Lakes region of New York, featuring Dee Specker’s rich vocals and fiddle, Bobby Henrie’s stunning guitar pickin’, Speer’s sophisticated song writing and guitar comping and Doug Henrie’s solid bass grooves. The largely acoustic CD draws on bluegrass, jazz, pop and reggae influences for it’s contemporary acoustic sound.
contact: dspeer39@aol.com
Track List:
1. Turning the Page of Love
2. Fountain of Youth
3. Everybody and His Brother
4. Storm by Storm
5. No Count Good for Nothing
6. Explaing Metaphor
7. Blue Glasses
8. As the Floor Drops Away
9. Body Language
10. Happy Landing
11. Passengers to Heaven