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Rating: I would define it as a family matter this latest work by Ben Harper, "Childhood Home". In fact, there are only two of them, him and his mother Ellen, already a well-known musician.
I am not a huge fan of Harper and I am not a lover of the folk, blues genre and I don't think this idea could come close to rock'n'roll, a genre that surely suits me better, but precisely because of this and with a touch of curiosity, I tried to understand such a little commercial venture like this.
Surely the Folk Music Center, the store founded in 1958 by grandparents Charles and Dorothy Chase, infected the young musician like a virus and probably transformed him into what we can now see and listen to, but what does the mother have to do with it in the discussion? I don't know what led to this unusual union, but I can say that it is one of the reasons that led me to explore this album.
It tells the story of a family and a town, Claremont (50 kilometers from Los Angeles), intertwining sounds and voices in the most classic American folk and country music, precisely only voices and guitar and not much more...
I don't believe it can be listened to at any time of the day and especially not in a distracted manner because if so, it won't tell you anything and it will surely bore you to death. The most commercial thing that comes to mind is the release day of the album: Harper chose Mother's Day, as if it were a special gift...
All original tracks, four by the mother and six by the son: rather intimate, nostalgic, and melancholic, at least that’s how they seemed to me.
I hate to transcribe the tracklist and therefore I won't do it: I find a link more convenient, here beside.
A small tip, especially for skeptics like me, it’s a listen to be done in peace and total relaxation.
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