Word: harper
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Harper...
...Harper has all the signs of a youngstar who is about to make it. He's young--24--goodlooking, intense, and talented. On his debutalbum, welcome to the cruel world, hedisplays a remarkably developed songwriting style,putting his personal imprint on traditionalfolkish melodies. While his arrangements are notentirely similar to anything else going to today(Harper plays a triad of acoustic instruments: thedobro, the acoustic guitar, and the Weissenborn, ahollow-neck lap slide guitar) it is easilyaccessible enough to reach a wide audience...
...Harper is being promoted big time by his label,and for once, a big-name record company seemsintent on pushing someone with real talent andsomething to say. The dripping slide that opensthe album's second track, "Whipping Boy," an oldChris Darrow tune and one of two tunes that Harperdid not pen himself (the other being theinfectious "I'll Rise," to which poet Maya Angeloucontributed the Iyrics) sets the intensity at ahigh level that is maintained throughout thealbum. As Harper wails: "Well you can needme....But don't you lead me/I won't followyou/Liston here/ I don't fear...
...While Harper seems to be consciously shunningthe pretty-boy superstar image, he is a musicianto watch, and Welcome to a Cruel Worldis astrong first album that deserves all the attentionit gets...
...reminded, finally, of two Italian priests quoted in this month's Harper's. When asked why they smoked, one answered, "I feel my mortality in my bones. I know my immortality in my soul. You jog, I smoke...