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Norman Blake
Folk
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Forty-some-odd years ago, a simple but dazzling LP record album called Home In Sulphur Springs announced the arrival of Norman Blake as a solo artist. The bearded and spectacled face that loomed close-up on the cover suggested a 19th century poet or painter. But the sound and the songs, the starchy drawl, and the exquisite guitar technique made it clear that Blake’s art was music of the most elemental sort, a lusty embrace of tradition that transcended technological change and the tides of pop culture.
One of many who fell in love with that album was Nancy Short of Independence, MO, then living in Nashville, TN. “I spent a lot of time cross legged on the floor before I met Norman, listening to Home in Sulphur Springs,” she says. “I was just so entranced by everything on it. I started out as a rocker, so when that came across my ears I thought, wow, this is a relief.”
Just about a year later, Nancy, a cellist with new found folk music leanings, was part of an opening act for Norman’s group at the Exit/In in Nashville. Their meeting that night became the basis for a life-long relationship in marriage and music that has taken them around the world and garnered multiple Grammy nominations and overwhelming critical acclaim. Together and in collaboration with others, they’ve forged a sound unlike anything else in bluegrass or old-time music – an elegant and complex weave of stringed instruments and honest, open-hearted voices. Norman and Nancy Blake’s unique musical chemistry has provided its own kind of answer for many thousands of music fans seeking timeless integrity in an increasingly, accelerated world. |
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