Description
Louisa Wise – This Blue World
CD review by Tony Smith
TN181 Nov 26
It is a rare pleasure indeed to find an album dating from the end of the twentieth century that has held its relevance so well.
The CD has a generous 21 tracks, some of which establish Louisa Wise as a skilled musician, while others show her songwriting skills.
She picked out interesting characters whose stories begged to be told and constructed appealing musical lives around them.
The sleeve notes are direct and varied and make entertaining reading.
‘Big At Last’ celebrates the day her youngest ‘springoff’ went to school.
Wise explains that ‘mixed emotions rule okay for mothers’.
Then in ‘Song for Margaret’, Louisa puts herself in the shoes of a friend with a big misfortune to overcome.
‘Woman of Botany’ tells of Georgianna Molloy’s expertise collecting seeds.
‘Crow’ could be a song about flight envy.
‘Mermaid Song’ and ‘So Good Together’ tell of the midlife anti-crisis.
Other tracks, any of which is equally special, include ‘Red Feather’, written during a tango lesson with Kristina Olsen, ‘Man on the Mountain’, ‘This Blue World’, ‘Yellow Man’ and ‘Sea Urchins’ which celebrates friendship between women.
‘Patchwork Quilt’ is based on an anonymous poem from a quilters’ exhibition and pairs with the instrumental ‘Corn Patch’, celebrating Scott’s Christmas corn patches.
Both Louisa and Scott Wise play a number of instruments. They are supported by Sean Diggins, Margaret Gunson, Ruth Bell, Ruth Wise and Lucy Wise. Scott Wise was involved in production, mastering and engineering as well as handcrafting many of the instruments. This very much a family album, dedicated to the memory of Pat Wise and also mentioning Louisa’s own mother, Ruth Bell. She estimates that she is a fourth generation musical woman and her daughters carry on the tradition.
From the moment you read the witty sleeve notes, you know you are going to love this album.
For example, we learn that to fiddle on the cello is to ‘chiddle’, that there are some self respecting mountains in WA, that a mermaid reaching 45 will have a scratch and a good look around and decide that beauty is only scale deep, and that a witch’s behind is cold!
While some songs are family related, a few are both serious and good.
‘The Other Older Nation’ is based on one of the seven known massacres of Indigenous people in the Margaret River area.
‘Living On’ remembers the tragedy when a cliff collapsed during a surfing carnival.
‘The Ballad of Grace and Sam’ tells the story of Grace Bussell and Aboriginal stockman, Sam Isaacs.
They rode horses into the surf at Redgate Beach to rescue 50 people shipwrecked on the Georgette in 1876.
Wise notes that the media ignored Isaacs’ role but recognised the 16 year old girl’s heroic efforts.
The fiddle tunes are very, very good.
‘Rowie’s Reel/ Witches Reel’, ‘Cocklebiddy Waltz’, ‘One Flame Waltz’, ‘Fairbridge Waltz’, ‘Ruthy’s Jig/ Lucy’s Chickens’, ‘The Corn Patch’ and ‘Five Miles from Town’ are all entertaining.
As Louisa describes the ‘Cocklebiddy Waltz’, she notes that it is a long way across the Nullarbor Plain.
Wherever Louisa Wise happens to be playing music, we can be thankful that her lovely sounds have made it across from WA to us eastern fans.
A 1999 recording of 21 of Louisa’s recent works. 72 minutes!
Louisa Wise is an award winning fiddler and songwriter from Australia who presents varied material in her solo shows, drawing on her background in different kinds of folk music—Old timey American, Irish, and Scottish—and also performing her own songs and tunes in a contemporary acoustic vein, many of which reflect her home of Western Australia. Instrumentation includes fiddle, guitar, dulcimer, piano, mouthbow, jawharp, and spoons. Her performances encompass both lively and heartfelt music, and she likes to have a good time on stage.
