Thursday, July 15, 2010

Doug Kershaw: Two-Step Fever (2000)

(As published in the Times of Acadiana ... )

Doug Kershaw
Two-Step Fever
(Susie Q)

Aside from the hokey "Intro," nothing about this return of Kershaw to his musical roots feels like a trendy cash-in. He not only sings and plays (fiddle, accordion) as if he never left the swamp, but he also recorded in Crowley, enlisted Michael Doucet for an authenticity-bequeathing cameo, and took D.L. Menard's "Back Door" at such a leisurely pace that even people with a dozen other versions will consider this one unique. So why, with so much still going for him, did Kershaw choose to record on a label run by Shreveport's Stan Lewis, who continues in his brazen ways by crediting Kershaw with composing almost every song here, "Let's Go to Lafayette," "Mamou Two-Step," and "Johnny Can't Dance" included? And why is D.L. Menard identified as D.M.? And since when does getting back to one's roots include dying one's hair? Rating: Three-and-a-half Grecian formulas out of five.

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