This wonderful tune is the one which fascinated me the first time I saw the Reeltime Travelers and made me an instant RTT fan. Its possible another tune might have captured me, but probably none so quickly and completely. This particular recording is from the First Baptist Church show on Sunday. Having never experienced a 'Travelers show, I was interested and impressed with with the Carter family tunes and instrumentals they delivered, and Heidi's dancing, but it wasn't until Martha stepped forward to sing Hallelujah that my world truly changed. I don't know exactly why, but I KNEW something very special was about to happen. This could have been the hush which came over the audience, many of whom had seen Martha sing "Come and go with Me" and other brilliant tunes the day before, or it could have been the reverence I sensed from the other band members toward her. In any case, I correctly felt that I should pay close attention to Martha, who prior to that moment, had seemed to me to be just the guitarist and singer who mostly seemed to be in a supporting position in the band. In a few moments, I came to understand that this was not quite correct.

The tune begins with Martha's slow and somewhat melancholy guitar part. She soon begins the deceptively simple sounding lyrics, but after a couple of minutes her poetic depth asserts itself.

The lyric "She's the color of my heart, color of my jeans

She's the two door picture of a broken down Queen"

took me by surprise and moved the music to a higher level. From that moment on I was completely focused on Martha's words. I felt like I had been taken into a domain I'd never glimpsed before, where words have immediate impact far beyond their number, and lyrical images of pickup trucks take on spiritual depth beyond my understanding.

Martha's vocal and guitar slowly intensify and the chorus takes on increasing beauty and power. Her vocal style is truly unique and was unfamiliar to me, but within a few moments, the depth of emotion she packs into every word was compelling. Her use of falsetto and breath and vibrato are beautiful beyond my ability to describe. I felt as though she had opened her heart to its core and given it to me, to make me stronger.

Heidi's fiddle breaks are loud compared to the vocals and so beautiful and evocative that to this day I tend to tear-up when I hear them, in this fantastically clear recording.

Up in the balcony, I was the very first person in the entire church to begin applauding, but within a second the entire room had exploded in applause after this stunning performance. In a few minutes I had become a lifelong Reeltime Travelers fan.

Dai McClurg

daimc@yahoo.com

Old Time Porch Music

Old Old Time Porch Music

Porch Music - John Hartford

For those of you interested in digging into The Reeltime Travelers some more, please visit their website at the following URL: http://www.reeltimetravelers.com/