Dan Janisch “Medicine Man” (Green Door Record Company 2007)

Time for my boot heels to go wanderin’.

Janisch hails from California and has some self released albums on his C.V. Here he presents nine well crafted songs which are very much in the singer songwriter tradition with roots in folk blues and Greenwich Village in it’s heyday. Akin to the likes of Arlo Guthrie or Jeffrey Fredericks there is an easygoing element to the songs reflecting some of that long lost optimism that was prevalent in the image of the freewheelin’ boho with a guitar.

With instrumental backing from friends Janisch’s songs are original enough to provide some clear water between him and his antecedents. Opener “Medicine Man” is a strolling blues with some nice dobro that would have fitted well on a Norman Greenbaum album. “Sayonara Chinatown” has a gloriously wacky keyboard solo that sounds like it has strayed from the Tornadoes Telstar, a very infectious song. Pretty Little Baby, with banjo prominent is a jaunty song with fiddle, jews harp and some odd percussion adding up to an endearing love song of sorts.

Date review added:  Friday, June 29, 2007
Reviewer:  Paul Kerr
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Related web link:  artist site