September 5 - Black Muddy River

I didn't know Norma Waterson when my friend Thomas introduced me to her. As a huge Richard Thompson fan - and a connoisseur of folk music - he had picked up her first solo album featuring her husband and daughter Martin and Eliza Carthy, Roger Swallow on drums, and tasteful guitar and bass from Richard and Danny Thompson (no relations). The opening track, Black Muddy River, was originally on Grateful Dead's album In The Dark from 1987. It is breathtaking in Norma Waterson's version.