Death’s Little Black Train
$14.99
Roman Barten-Sherman is a twenty-year-old guitarist, singer, and banjo player of American vernacular music inspired and informed by a lifelong exploration of pre-war country blues, Southern mountain music, and spirituals. Writes Roman: “In Death’s Little Black Train, I hope to honor the radical creative legacy of black folk musicians who brought American music into being through beautifully intricate acts of cultural cross-pollination. In these thirteen songs, I synthesize geographically, historically, and culturally disparate traditions, with the hope that they reflect the necessity of American vernacular music in the 21st century as a living, vital, expression of the fundamental humanity that connects us all.”
Description
Roman Barten-Sherman is a twenty-year-old guitarist, singer, and banjo player who performs American vernacular music inspired and informed by a lifelong exploration of pre-war country blues, ballads, and spirituals. Roman grew up in the high desert of Bisbee, Arizona. Her love for country blues began when a neighbor gave her a small handmade fretless banjo along with cassettes of Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell. During formative travels to Mississippi, she learned the Bentonian blues style from Jimmy “Duck” Holmes at his Blue Front Cafe, and the trance blues of Robert Belfour in Clarksdale juke joints. Her polyrhythmic guitar and banjo stylings and nuanced vocals have been honed through hundreds of performances to national and international audiences.
In Death’s Little Black Train, Roman Barten Sherman’s singularity as a performer of acoustic blues and Southern Mountain music is on full display. Her intricate fingerpicking propels renditions of idiosyncratic 1920’s blues gems Cairo Blues and Down On Me; her virtuosic bottleneck slide animates soul-stirring recompositions of the Southern spirituals Death’s Little Black Train and Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning. Roman breathes new life into unreleased Southwestern field recordings encountered during her years of friendship and collaboration with Tucson folklorist and musician “Big Jim” Griffith, exemplified in a vibrant rendition of Gila River Valley tune Lonesome Live Oak. As a trans woman, Roman places the brilliance of historically obscured black female blues and gospel musicians Geeshie Wiley, Sister O.M. Terrell, and Rosalie Hill in the foreground.
Roman Barten-Sherman is a twenty-year-old guitarist, singer, and banjo player of American vernacular music inspired and informed by a lifelong exploration of pre-war country blues, Southern mountain music, and spirituals. Writes Roman: “In Death’s Little Black Train, I hope to honor the radical creative legacy of black folk musicians who brought American music into being through beautifully intricate acts of cultural cross-pollination. In these thirteen songs, I synthesize geographically, historically, and culturally disparate traditions, with the hope that they reflect the necessity of American vernacular music in the 21st century as a living, vital, expression of the fundamental humanity that connects us all.”
12/15/23 from Andy Cohen
“Death’s Little Black Train: Roman Barten-Sherman, late of Tucson, turned twenty as he was making this recording of century old material. Roman has been at this since he was six, apprenticing then to Memphis bluesman Robert ‘Wolfman’ Belfour. Through continued exposure to all sorts of elder music, Roman has developed a sort of second sight into that whole era. Out of an obligate ‘lefty’ player, it’s a sort of Ambrotype of what the old guys sounded like, but without the scratches. ”
Release Date April 19, 2024
Track Listing
- Death’s Little Black Train – 4:04
- Lonesome Live Oak – 3:12
- Sailor’s Prayer – 5:34 (
- Down on Me – 3:32
- I’m Going to That City – 3:19
- Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning – 6:14
- Wild Bill Jones – 3:42
- Bullying Well – 3:24
- You Ain’t the Last Man – 2:35
- Eagles on a Half – 3:38
- Cairo Blues – 5:46
- Cloudy Sky Blues – 3:38
- Mama Don’t Allow – 4:42
