The Busker Of Natchez Banjo Tunes: Banjo and 19Th Century Vocals by J.P. Shehan This certainly is a little piece of Americana in the rough, but at the same instant, perfect in its authenticity. For Pat (The Colonel), it was the fulfillment of a journey that I’m sure had to have started in brass marching bands under Friday night lights in southwestern Alabama and southeast Mississippi and northwestern Florida state, continuing on to the jungle airbases of Viet Nam and playing Rock ‘n’ Roll in Northern Wisconsin and North Eastern Minnesota bars and roadhouses. But more than anything it’s about a journey back to the Deep South that the Colonel loved so much and for 35 years longed to return to. He kept this place special to himself and to everybody who was near to him with his stories of his southern upbringing and through an abundance of his art. What the Colonel was void of was a true soundtrack for himself and his love of the home he missed. Through a handed-down banjo, Pat’s love of the South also became a musical quest, teaching himself the instrument and researching many of the 19th century pieces that eventually have become the Busker of Natchez. The disc is divided nicely between wonderful ballads, instrumentals and up-tempo numbers alike. There’s an almost cavalry charge Long Riders approach to “Natchez Under the Hill “ and Pat’s step-fast version of “Dixie” is truly lovable and playful as many of these songs are. A portion of these tunes are very cleverly sown together with very nice little nuances of music snippets and not planned sound treatments, like a squeaky chair. You really can’t plan that sort of production. Is that the Busker playing a Bo Diddley beat on “Jim Crack Corn”? The Colonels “Angelina Baker” is mournfully wonderful and at the same time ”As the Bowl Goes Round” is gleefully giddy. I really feel the singing on this disc is so heartfelt, it breaths a different kind of historic life into these songs of a bygone era. Pat’s duet with daughter Donya is truly engaging and with no real history of the song is the true ghost song of the disc. With the magic that his banjo brought and that constant Andalusia breeze hearkening him home, I really think the Busker truly found what he was looking for.