Suitcase Blues

Less is more when it comes to the Harris Brothers. For the better part of two decades, the sibling duo from western North Carolina has been honing a special niche in the Americana scene, based on their distilled interpretations of traditional blues, skiffles and rags, mixed with choice selections from the bluegrass, country, honky-tonk and jazz songbooks. Suitcase Blues, the brothers’ self-produced debut album, features Ryan on double-bass and vocals, and Reggie on guitar, vocals and kick-drum suitcase. No straight-from-the-Ryman-stage guest stars. No postproduction, multi-tracked trickery or digitally enhanced harmonic frills. Just two seasoned musicians playing and singing in perfect synchronicity like only brothers could.

Standout tracks include Blind Boy Fuller's ‘Untrue Blues’ Elizabeth Cotten's ‘Freight Train, WC Handy's ‘Hesitation Blues’ and Etta Baker's ‘Knoxville Rag, plus a swinging live take on JJ Cale's ‘If You're Ever in Oklahoma’. The Harris boys cast all of these well-worn covers in a refreshingly distinctive light. Reggie's approach conjures up Piedmont flat-picking legends like Barbecue Bob and Earl Scruggs, though it's also shaped by influences ranging from Django Reinhardt and Chet Atkins to John Fahey and Bill Frisell. Meanwhile, Ryan keeps the bottom-end thumping with an unwaveringly supportive, fluently flexible, touch. Whether soulfully rolling through a southern gospel standard (‘Twelve Gates to the City’) or stretching out on a Chicago blues classic (Muddy Waters’ ‘Honey Bee’), the Harris Brothers impart a sublime and spirited down-home depth to a repertoire many folks have considered long past plumbed to exhaustion.