[.ca] Nobody Knows The Trouble Ive

True American Folk Music:
This is American folk music the way it was meant to be played. Mr. Koerner isn't afraid to have a beat, and feeling and humor haven't been sacrificed in pursuit of an artificial sweetness.

THE desert island CD for folk fans!:
The chestnut old folk songs from the Lomax collections and SingOut! Reprints come alive with exuberance and energy. Their freshness is matched only by their timelessness. The piano of Butch Thompson and the string wizardry of Ostrushko, Taylor, et. al. weave with Koerner's sense of song to take American songs and make a masterpiece of the heart of American roots music.

Spider on the Web:
Living at the other end of the planet, I believe I have some excuse for having taken nearly fifteen years to catch up with this album. Knew about Koerner, Ray and Glover in the 'sixties, heard one of the Sweet Jane Records (Music is Just a Bunch of Notes) in the 'seventies and thought it was pretty good. Nothing, however, could have prepared me for this. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Been is not merely the best album title of the last fifty years, it's an American classic, up there with Big Pink, Workingman's Dead, and you get the picture ... Spider John Koerner's take on fourteen of America's more familiar folk songs really does bring them to life like no-one ever did. You have to think Shenandoah waited all this time for him to come along (and yes, I do have Paul Robeson's version). Similarly great are Black Dog, Red Apple Juice, St. James Infirmary and the other ten. I went out and got Stargeezer and Raised by Humans on the strength of this, and they're just about as good. Not to mention One Foot in the Groove which finds K, R & G playing (and singing) better than they ever did back then. So there you go, it really is never too late, and you CAN go home again. P.S. Come to Australia, John, and bring those other geezers along.

• Cotton-Eyed Joe
• Sail Away Ladies
• Acres of Clams
• Black Dog
• Froggie Went A-Courtin'
• Old Chisholm Trail
• Leather-Winged Bat
• Red Apple Juice
• Worried Rambler
• What's a Matter with the Mill
• Shenandoah
• Roving Gambler
• St. James Infirmary
• Irene
• Cotton-Eyed Joe (Reprise)