Asher Brinson – Midnight Hurricane
I’m not going to pontificate about how a 16-year-old guitarist is so surprisingly wonderful. He should be & he’s in good company. Asher, who also dabbles in singing & songwriting, follows in the footsteps of many talented young musicians. There’s guitarist Shuggie Otis (15), bluegrass fiddle-player Allison Krauss (14), Stevie Wonder (11), Eric Clapton (13), Derek Trucks (13), Joe Bonamassa (12) & let’s not forget those juvenile geniuses Mozart (5) & Beethoven (7).
11 forecasts predict a Midnight Hurricane (Drops April 3/Brinson Records/39:21) as performed by Asher Brinson (guitar/vocals). His forte is driven both by his instinct for old-soul musicality & a youthful perspective. There’s a bluegrass blend delicately panned through a country stream of music that manages to be infused with a generous number of nuggets. The next generation does have musical talent without all the electronics, samples, autotune, & AI. One such guitar slinger is this left-handed picker from North Carolina.
Asher opens with the bluegrass title track “Midnight Hurricane,” then goes on the road with a Woody Guthrie-type storyline on “Lonesome Hobo Song.” Dusty & sung with all the sincerity a young man can muster without scars, blisters & broken bones. Excellent tune, it just needs to be enriched with Emmylou Harris backup singing or a duet. Asher goes into a Merle Haggard crossed with Jim Reeves texture with “And Why Is That” with the country pedal steel of Smith Curry that winds itself around the melody with delicacy & appeal. It’s a bit old-fashioned balladry, but when it’s done right, it’s country at its finest.
Asher’s voice isn’t as seasoned as those veterans (yet), but his voice is sincere enough to maintain the song’s message with brevity. It must be Mr. Brinson’s love for the genre that makes his performance so determined. Some of Asher’s finest acoustic guitar can be heard among the fiddle & mandolin of “Living Too Fast.” Quite good.
Not as distinctive as John Hartford, but in his wheelhouse (“Black Mountain Rag”), John Denver, or Vince Gill, the sound Asher projects vocally & musically is an artist on the cusp of being not a player, but an innovator. This set brings many bluegrass forms to the mainstream, just an inch from commercial, but barely. Musical interludes like “Queen Anne’s Waltz” border on a John Fahey-Leo Kottke tradition of guitar & the Bronwyn Keith-Hynes fiddle accentuates the pastoral melody. Asher should tackle the Spanish guitar classic “Recuverdas De Alhambra,” as performed by Chet Atkins, because, as another instrumental interlude, it fits the boundaries he’s pushing.
Highlights – “Midnight Hurricane,” “Lonesome Hobo Song,” “And Why Is That,” “Living Too Fast,” “Queen Anne’s Waltz,” “Black Mountain Rag” & “Seven Weeks In County.”
Musicians – Sierra Hull & Sam Bush (mandolins), Lindsay Lou (tenor), Cory Walker (banjo), Jason Carter & Bronwyn Keith-Hynes (fiddles), Justin Moses (dobro), Christopher Henry (bass/mandolin/electric guitar/baritone vocal/snare brush) & David Grier (guitar).
B&W image courtesy of Asher’s website. CD @ https://www.asherbrinson.com/