|
REVIEWS
"Fred
Haring's debut CD is something to notice. On an independent
label, Haring has managed top-notch production, packaging and
writing. His style is in the Americana vein, with slide guitars,
violins, mandolins and raspy low-key vocals. With a booming
bass voice and a casual snarl, Haring sings songs of hope, faith
and mercy set amidst dilapidated buildings, fatherless children
and seeming hopelessness. But alongside the deeply serious material
you see a terrific sense of humor. "County Cliche"
tells the story of a broken up relationship that has taken on
a Hatfield/McCoy sort of absurdity. Taken as a whole, Ghosttowns
And Kingdoms may be the coolest indy Americana debut since Vigilantes
Of Love's Jugular."
John
J. Thompson, TrueTunes
"With
the help of several central Ohio musicians, Columbus singer,
songwriter and instrumentalist Fred Haring recorded some great
songs in a 5th Ave studio last year. He calls the collection
Ghosttowns and Kingdoms. In a soulful, James McMurtry-style
road-weariness, Haring sings heartland rock tunes about "government
checks and Chevrolet wrecks" (Hey Joe Carter). He also
offers a few get-some-religion workouts (Descending Like A Dove,
Alcoholic Anonymous, and Where To Begin) and twangy numbers
built with acoustic guitars, mandolins, cellos and fiddles (Blessings
in Disguise and Country Cliche). All 11 tunes are crisp and
beautiful, and concern tangible objects cloaked in a lovely
metaphor. The lilting ambience of (you said) Trust Is Just a
4-Letter Word, for one, drops the pulse to that carefree pace
where anything seems possible. The clickety-clack, polyrhythmic
Wear White to My Funeral, with its slave-song sing-along refrain
("Jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton"),
is a four-minute feast of social commentary. A soul-searching
piece of work, Ghosttowns and Kingdoms proves Haring has traced
and retraced the routes in his skull a few times."
Columbus
Dispatch
"Also
quite wonderful is the indie debut from Fred Haring, Ghosttowns
and Kingdoms (Grandma Katherine's Music). As a songwriter, Haring
insists on staying near the edges of things--the gutters, the
broken, the glorious, joyful poor--crafting meditations that
are remarkable for their unswerving hope and good humor. The
"least of these" appear in almost every song, yet
the disc manages to avoid becoming one of "those"
peace and justice records that too many of us own for their
sentiment rather than their quality. Haring avoids this, in
large measure, by keeping things intimate, rather than preachy
(is anybody listening???), his voice and spirit cracking throughout.
Musically, this is what the critics like to call "neo-folk"
or "new country"--simple, guitar-based songs that
sound as good in a coffee shop or the front porch. In fact,
there are all sorts of hints of mountain music--of the laid-back
variety--throughout. A genuine find."
Dwight Ozard
PRISM Magazine
"First
let me say that although I was slow to come aboard the Fred
Train.....I AM NOW "ON BOARD!!!!!!!" The video for
"funeral" kicked me in the teeth!!! I loved it and
am airing it in heavy rotation on our TV show!!!! I have also
readded the single in recurrent play on our radio outreach."
Pastor Samme Palermo
WITR - Rochester, NY
"Very
talented...a great writer"
Dan Posthuma, Word
Records
"a
brilliant album...and that's not something I say very often."
Bill
Mallonee, Vigilantes of Love
"RATING:
3 Stars I love country music, especially if it's a bit folky
and old-timey as opposed to 99% of what comes out of Nashville
these days. So I was pleased to discover this 1997 release from
Fred Haring entitled "Ghosttowns and Kingdoms." A
gifted songwriter, his best songs like "Alcoholic Anonymous"
tell interesting stories and yet never get bogged down in typical
folk conventions. This is a record that obviously has some rock
influences, and sometimes even strays into rock territory ("Hey
Joe Carter" is the rockiest, a song about not distinguishing
people just by their skin color). Musically, the CD packs a
lot of punches. There's some great finger-picking on "Descending
like a Dove" - a softspoken ballad that could pass for
a Bob Dylan song with better singing (of course). "Where
White to my Funeral" features splendid female harmonies,
and the country send-up "Country Cliche" is a good
romp on banjo that exposes just about every country convention
known to man. The haunting "Book of Many Colors" is
the best song here, with its mixture of guitar and fiddle amid
finely crafted lyrics. "Could I be your one and only, because
you are my only one" he sings to God, an ode that we have
probably all felt: that it's amazing to think that God actually
singles us out and wants to commune with us on a personal level.
Look for a new release from Haring soon. But until then, if
you like tinges of folk and country in your music with personal,
honest testimonies about how God is working in our lives, check
this one out."
John
Brandon
ChristRock
"The
CD is fantastic...it's great. I kept it in my office and it
played constantly for about a month, then I took it home to
play when I was hammering out a bunch of data input...and my
14-year-old daughter has adopted you as the next Tom Petty,
and she plays it all the time, too. So I guess that you don't
really need a song by song review if a 14-year-old likes it...
and her tastes are Edwin McCain, Wallflowers, Petty, Dave Matthews,
Matchbox 20, lots of alternative... Thanks for the CD...Now
if I can only get it back from her..."
Burr Datz
Washington and Lee University
"I've
been living with your CD for awhile now - great stuff. Being
the music marketing type person that I am, I of course had to
categorize it as "sounding like" other artists, if
you know what I mean ... so, here's what I came up with... it's
a cross between Paul Simon's Graceland, Matthew Sweet's 100%
Fun, with touches of Cat Stevens and Dave Mathews vocally. And
I was also thinking to myself that the CD was created at the
intersection of Country, World, and Americana."
Kirby
Trapolino
Grassroots Distribution
"different...cool
stuff..!"
Andy
Man, WWCD 101
"very
creative..."
Michael
B, RadioU
"A
good album..!"
Rob
Reinhart, Acoustic Cafe
"With
gentle acoustic strumming giving way to cutting electric guitar,
Fred Haring's "Hey Joe Carter" moves beyond the polite
folk realm into a vibrant, edgy folk-rock territory that suits
the song's honest and direct lyrical slant."
Amazon.com |
