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Helton Creek, Red Henry
Reviewed by: B Hough 7/13/2007 12:00:00 AM


Red Henry: Helton Creek Arrandem Records www.murphymethod.com 800-227-2357 ©2007 Song list:; Helton Creek, Toy Heart, The Flood of ’57, Yellow Barber, Shawnee Land, Stay Out of Your Way, Lucky Charms Waltz, Squirrel Hunters, Hundred and Six Star Rag, Bitter Creek, High on a Mountain, Chisholm Canal, Alone and Forgotten, Remember You Love In My Dreams, Birdie, Lockwood, Clermont’s Visit to Georgia, Rawhide, Divers and Lazurus. Red Henry is perhaps better known as Mr. Murphy Method as he guides the instructional music video company he started with his wife Murphy Henry. There are now many instructional videos for playing banjo, dobro, mandolin and guitar and son Christopher and daughter Casey are now featured on many of the teaching videos. Red, of course, was always involved with bluegrass music, and his mandolin playing should be appreciated. In these days of multi-note crescendo jamgrass playing, it’s nice to find a mandolin player who pushes melody and space between notes. Red is joined on the songs by his uncle John Hedgecoth, who played banjo for Bill Monroe in the 1970s, Murphy, Casey and Chris. The opening cut, “Helton Creek,” is a Red Henry original and features a series of melodic riffs on the lower strings that have a Monroe style and flavor embellished with John’s banjo. “Shawnee Land” is another Monroe-style instrumental and Red sings another Monroe classic, “Toy Heart.” Christopher’s steady guitar rhythm and tasteful leads are found throughout the album and he also wrote “Lucky Charms Waltz” when he was only 13 years old. The waltz has a haunting quality and Red added twin fiddles and viola to give it extra texture. Another fascinating instrumental is John Hartford’s song “Squirrel Hunting” which the band plays with the banjo trading leads with fiddle. Red, Chris and Casey sing a powerful version of Ola Belle Reed’s “High on a Mountain” with Red adding mandocello to the song. Great album Red, just don’t wait another seven years for your next one!		More Information About This CD

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