The latest album by local blues guitar legend Stan Hirsch is reflective of an
artist who has seen it all, done it all and graciously passed it off to the
next generation
 Photo by Wes Naman
Through the ebb and flow of the last 30 years of Albuquerque music, few things
have remained constant. El Rey Theater. Natural Sound. Putnay Thomas’ blues
program on KUNM. Encore Music. Stan Hirsch.
Not only has the latter constant weathered the years in what has sometimes been
(musically speaking anyway), the Land
of Disenchantment, he’s
actually gotten better with age.
And, perhaps, most importantly, he has always
shared his unique gift as a music educator with countless young local guitar
slingers — people with stars in their eyes and a desire to unlock the secrets
of the six-string. Most notable among Hirsch’s students is Eric McFadden, who,
along with longtime Los Angeles-based session pro Tim Pierce, is Albuquerque’s preeminent
guitar legend. And none of it would have been possible without Stan Hirsch,
who’s been content to play and sing a form of acoustic blues that dates back to
a time when Robert Johnson was recording music to tinfoil.
Hirsch has made a handful of recordings himself over the years in a variety of
incarnations, but his best records have always been those truest to his
preferred method of live performance: one voice, one guitar.
Compelled to Play, Hirsch’s latest 12-song outing, is as close as one can get
to experiencing the journeyman blues purveyor live without leaving the comfort
of one’s own home. Compelled to Play was recorded live, each song captured in a
single, first take. Anyone who has ever experienced the recording process
already understands the monumental achievement therein; those who haven’t will
just have to trust that single-taking an entire album is close to impossible,
save for the most studied, seasoned musician.
The song choices and sequence on Compelled to Play are as captivating as
Hirsch’s ultra-spirited treatments and arrangements — Elvis Presley’s “Mystery
Train,” John Lee Hooker’s “Baby Please Don’t Go,” Robert Johnson’s “Walking
Blues” and Muddy Waters’ “Got My Mojo Working” are placed carefully among a set
of highly evolved original material. Hirsch isn’t so much playing the blues
here as he is channeling them. It’s a rare musician who can echo and
approximate the original intent of a song while making it unmistakably his or
her own. Hirsch is one such artist. He growls, howls and whispers his way
through Compelled’s dozen tunes with brazen determination and, on first listen,
an almost disquieting sense of soul baring. Hirsch sounds like he’s singing in
your head; you can almost see him seated, guitar balanced on his left leg,
hunched over the microphone. It’s intimacy to the nth degree.
With the vocals in the driver’s seat here, it takes a little time to begin to
absorb the subtlety and nuance that informs Hirsch’s left-of-center guitar
work. Working percussive thumb picking into feverish crescendos and then
cascading out into careful, sinfully beautiful arpeggios is just part of the
recipe: Hirsch fleshes out the songs with minor key inversions and chord
figures that, for most players, never get past glimmers of what’s possible with
five fingers manipulating six strings. In that regard, Hirsch’s guitar prowess
is simply on a higher plane. But he’s also supremely gifted with the ability to
make virtuosity palatable to even the most casual listener.
Compelled to Play is the latest chapter in the Stan Hirsch saga, and one that
begs your full attention. No slick production, no outside accompaniment except
a brushed snare and finger snaps on one of his originals, and, most assuredly,
no bullshit. It’s Stan Hirsch at his finest — compelling enough that anyone who
hears it will leave the couch for the club.
Stan Hirsch
Compelled to Play
Blue Falcon Music
CD RELEASE PARTY
7-10p, Fri., Jul. 10
3rd Street Art Space
711 3rd SW, 505.306.0535
stanhirsch.com
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