TRACK LIST

1. WAY OUT IN THEWORLD

2. DON’T GO DANCIN’ DOWN THE DARKTOWN STRUTTER’S BALL

3. SHE’S A BREAD BAKER

4. DODO BLUES 

5. ON A CHRISTMAS DAY 

6. CHARLIE BOSTOCKS BLUES

7. GOIN THE COUNTRY 

8. BAD LUCK EVERYWHERE YOU GO

9. RICH MAN’S BLUES

10. YOU TOOK MY THING AND PUT IT IN YOUR PLACE

11. HANDYMAN BLUES  

C.W. STONEKING

LP: VR1238  

CD: VRCD38  

"KING HOKUM" 

ENGLISH

He plays guitar like a demon, wears natty threads, sings catchy tunes and mutters to himself. The idiosyncratic C.W. STONEKING is a true entertainer who relies on musicianship stagecraft and performance to invoke the spirit of the 1920's Deep South blues in his original hokum style.
C.W. Stoneking presents here his latest release 'KING HOKUM' produced by  J. Walker (Machine Translations), it contains 11 of C.W.'s original numbers. 

Set in an imaginary old-time Southern town populated with singing dodo birds, sinister handymen, brokenhearted street singers and old testament field hollerers, the album also features C.W.'s backing band the Primitive Horn Orchestra on a number of tunes helping to complete the 1920's southern gothic blues sound.

Born in the USA then moved to Australia at the age of 5 to live in the Outbacks with the Aboriginals, Growed up and as a Teenager Found a Guitar and Played the Blues on the Streets in Melbourne, joined some Blues Cover Bands until he found he’s own Blues.

The Blues that C.W. Stoneking plays is is based in the 1920 and 30’s with instruments such as the steel Guitar, Clarinette, Jug Trombone and and and.. instruments that don’t makes it to new recordings these days… 

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DEUTSCH

Er spielt den Blues wie der Teufel, ist Relative Komisch angezogen und tragt einen Hut und murmelt eingängige Blues Songs vor sich hin

C.W. STONEKING ist ein vortrefflicher Unterhalter, und bringt den Geist des zwanziger Jahre Blaus des tiefen Südens in seiner ursprünglichen Hokum Art wider zum erwachen

C.W. Stoneking neuster und Erster streich „KING HOKUM“, wurde vom J. Wanderer (Machine Translations) produziert enthält 11 von C.W. eigene Kompositionen

Ine einer ungestüm eigenen art singt er über den düsteren Süden ‚Dodo Birds, oder wie es in seiner Vorstadt als ‚Handyman’ arbeitete oder sinlos auf Jop suche ist, 

C.W. ‚s Backing band auf einigen songs the Horn-Orchester helfen ihm diese Delta Blues Stimmung Rüber zubringen wie selten einer vor ihm

In dhe USA geboren und als kind in die Outbacks nach Australien zu den Aboriginals gezogen ,fand er als session musiker für diverse Cover Blues Bands einen Jop als Gitarist bis er seinen eigenen Blues Fand.. aus King Hokum findet man schon lang ausgestorbene instrumente wie:  Steel Guitar, Clarinette, Jug Trombone und und und. 

 Band Info

Rolling Stone Magazine (USA)

"This sounds as if someone set up a microphone in a back room around 1927 and recorded direct to wax the songs of an itinerant blues man who does amusing party pieces with friends as well as mournful turns, who does New Orleans swing and plantation work songs, who plays his guitar and banjo as if they are as natural a part of him as his hooch-roughened vocal cords...a darn fine album."

"Every song on this album would have been top 10 seventy year ago....the most incomparably original album of 2006. There will not be a similar album in the record store this Christmas. King Hokum is the first 10/10 rating I've ever given." thedwarf.com.au, Album Review.

"Four stars" Rolling Stone

RACORCAKE (USA)

As with most Voodoo Rhythm releases, I was thrown for a loop when I first popped C.W. Stoneking’s King Hokum into the CD player. I took a look at the cover art—a faded picture of a guy from a decade long past holding some sort of dobro resonator guitar—scratched my head and thought, “Huh.” The music brings to mind Robert Johnson and Louis Armstrong; old delta blues plucked languidly and sung in a rich but broken voice that would turn a lot of those old bluesmen green with envy. The album is set in a fictitious Southern town in the 1920s and uses the Dodo bird, bad luck, and bad lovin’ as its subject matter. “You Took My Thing and Put It in Your Place” is a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek duet with loads of sexual innuendo and enough innocent charm to keep you from focusing on the fact that it’s about erectile dysfunction. Once again, Voodoo Rhythm scores with an offbeat, unique release that will spend hours and hours in my CD player. –Josh Benke

SHOOT ME AGAIN (FR)

Voodoo Rhythm Records a un talent certain pour dénicher des perles du rock'n'roll. C'est au tréfond du sud américain, sous une chaleur écrasante et moite que le label suisse à cette fois jetté son dévolu. C'est au blues originel et basique que les portes ont été ouvertes. C'est en plein dans les années 20 et 30 que King Hokum nous renvoit.
Sans aucune difficulté, d'un naturel solide, C.W. STONEKING s'attèle avec sa guitare et sa mandoline à dresser un paysage paumé, plombé par le soleil où le temps semble interminable. Où le fermier du coin passe plus de temps devant sa bière que sur son tracteur. Où l'église du village ne désemplit pas, mais sans conviction... car c'est le seul lieu de divertissement !
Notez que tout aussi naturellement, C.W. STONEKING sait se faire accompagner pour autant que ça sonne d'époque : clarinette, trombone, voix féminines, piano... jusqu'aux corbeaux d'ouverture d'ailleurs.
Enregistré en 2005, sans doute un peu oublié jusqu'à sa sortie actuelle, King Hokum ne trahit pas que C.W. STONEKING a quitté les USA à l'âge de 5 ans pour vivre avec les aborigènes.
Le son est minimaliste comme, encore une fois, pour coller à l'époque. Il est d'ailleurs assez anecdotique d'écouter l'album dans sa version CD car seuls les craquements sont absents.
Certains sceptiques vont à nouveau se demander l'intérêt d'un tel disque aujourd'hui. Je répondrai encore et toujours, celui de l'amour. Celui de l'histoire. Celui de la mémoire. A l'heure où ce qu'on nomme le rock est transformé en un produit (commercial) comme un autre, accompagné de grandes actions marketing, un album comme King Hokum fait surgir l'essence démoniaque qui est en chacun de nous. Sans artifice. Un démon qui sommeil avant de nous rappeler que nous ne sommes rien. Que la vie est une chienne. Mais qu'elle vaut la peine d'être vécue, consommée et rongée jusqu'à l'os. Même dans le plus grand trou perdu du monde, il y a du bon temps à saisir... et en somme, c'est ce qui a toujours fait peur aux puritains !
Dès lors cet album n'est certainement pas inutile et sa musique n'est en aucun cas désuète.

PEACEDOGMAN (USA)

From hearing the atmosphere provided on "King Hokum," it sounds like Mr. Stoneking, just like his obvious hero Robert Johnson, recorded this alone in a room with only his guitar and a whole lotta blues. Terms like "old school" and "retro" does not even come close to describing this release. If these were lost recordings from some unknown blues master given some miraculous digital restoration, it would not be surprising.

Not only are these original compositions so authentic-sounding, ol' C.W. nails it from a performance standpoint as well. His voice evokes many blues architects, from the aforementioned Johnson to the distinctive growls of crooners like Louie Armstrong. His pipes are full of authenticity and the hard-won soul of the heroes of that bygone era. Not bad for a white dude. This guy must certainly hail from the southern delta, right? Wrong. This guy is Australian! Go figure.

The first track "Way Out in the World," wastes no time in establishing Stoneking's unaccompanied statement. It isn't until halfway through track two, "Don't Go Dancin Down the Darktown Strutter's Ball," he is joined when the sounds of horns, clarinet and snare drumming are faded in carefully. This ensemble is used sparingly throughout, leaving most of the album to fall on Stoneking's very able shoulders. When the band does kick in, however, it's always at the right time. Check out the great clarinet solo in "Rich Man's Blues" and the tasteful piano work in "Goin The Country" and hear for yourself. Speaking of nice fourashes, C.W. trades vocals with the woman (singer Kristy Fraser) who done him wrong in "On A Christmas Day," and later gets bossed around by her in "You Took My Thing and Put it in Your Place."

"King Hokum" rings with a passion that belies its creator's race, geography, and youthful appearance. It brings to mind the adage that Blind Dog Willie bequeathed to Ralph Macchio: "It ain't the years, it's the miles!"

RUMORE (IT)

In un momento in cui, grazie all’Anthology di Harry Smith e altre pregevoli ristampe, il prewar blues è tornato inaspettatamente in auge, escono allo scoperto musicisti che si rifanno a quelle arcane e primitivistiche sonorità. C.W. Stoneking ad esempio, bianco in tenuta da predicatore che le note biografiche vogliono nato negli USA e cresciuto tra gli aborigeni australiani, pare fuoriuscito da un dagherrotipo ingiallito degli anni Venti o inventato di sana pianta da quelli della Voodoo Rhythm (ma una rapida verifica in Internet ci conferma la sua esistenza!). Davvero maniacale è difatti la cura con cui si replicano modalità e vezzi dell’antico blues del Delta, dei canti di lavoro, dell’hillbilly, dell’oldtime jazz (il duetto con voce femminile di On A Christmas Day) e altri rustici sapori che ci parlano con un’onestà e schiettezza oggi scomparse. King Hokum, suonato rigorosamente con banjo e dobro a cassa metallica, in parte col delizioso accompagnamento della Primitive Horn Orchestra, contiene in realtà non cover bensì undici pezzi autografi, interpretati con gutturale trasporto e tecnica sopraffina. Canzoni di amore e morte, sbronze e disperazione, ma anche un filo di ironia com’è lecito aspettarsi in un’operazione di questo tipo. Neppure Charley Patton, del resto, avrebbe pensato a scrivere un blues sull’ultimo Dodo…

Vittore Baroni

RADIO KANAL K (CH)

Um 1920 irgendwo am Mississippi: Vor seinem Haus sitzt der afro-amerikanische C.W. Stoneking mit seiner Blues-Gitarre in seinem Schaukelstuhl und sinniert singend über sein langes Leben. Falsch! Dieses Album wurde 2007 aufgenommen und der doch eher weisshäutige Künstler ist bei den Aboriginals in Australien aufgewachsen. Merkt man aber gar nicht, denn wie schon erwähnt stellt man sich beim hören von „King Hokum“ was ganz anderes vor. Ganz im Original Südstaaten Hokum Style (ein schneller, tanzbarer Blues mit schlüpfrigen Texten) präsentiert uns der ebenfalls im 20er Jahre Stil gekleidete, in Amerika geborene, Herr Stoneking Blues vom feinsten! Seine ungewöhnlich tiefe und starke Stimme überrascht dabei besonders, aber auch, dass man wiedermal Instrumente wie Zither, Mandoline und Trompete hören darf. Ein wahrer Leckerbissen für Fans des 20er Jahre Blues, die dem Künstler ein wenig Humor nicht übel nehmen!

ROUGH TRADE (UK)

there's a thin line between pastiche and honestly trying to recapture the original rough-shod, rough-voiced blues. c.w. stoneking falls on the right side of divide, serving up an album of down-home blues which moved between the world-weary, the saucy and the satirical. listen to 'she's a bread baker', stoneking clawing at his guitar in a simple 12-bar style, whilst warbling something just coherent enough to think he ain't talking about yeast and dough. stoneking's singing is clearer on his two duets with kirsty fraser. he shows a great sing-speak rhythm, especially on 'you took my thing and put it in you place', where, he wants it back, and don't want fraser to get it back. for her part, she plays it saucy but straight, despite the wondrously silly lyrics. producer j. walker keeps his touches light, allowing the assemblage of guitar, jug, bass, clarinet and so on the benefit of a live sound. on king hokum, stoneking channels the old blue-singers without sounding like pastiche, and modern without sounding lifeless. he's got the blues, and we should all revel in them.

BLUES WAX (USA)

A Masterpiece From Down Under

"Hokum: (noun) slang term; a phrase or device used by an actor or musician to win a laugh or to catch attention; nonsense; bunk." (Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary) 

Chris Stoneking's second album is nothing short of a Blues masterpiece. Now that is a very big rap on a young guy from Australia indeed, but first a little background on this remarkable artist. 

Stoneking was born in Katherine in Australia's Northern Territory, 350 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs, an area that could well be considered that country's dustbowl. The son of a Californian expatriate music teacher, Billy Stoneking, he and his family moved to Sydney when Chris was eleven years old, and he first took up guitar and began to play in bands at age 13. He recorded his debut album in 1998 after moving south to Melbourne. Now, the Murray River is not the Mason Dixon Line, but with this album Stoneking makes Melbourne sound like Mississippi. 

There are eleven original compositions played on Dobro and banjo with occasional backing from The Primitive Horn Section, which gives the tracks a 1920s New Orleans feel. Stoneking's voice sounds like a sixty-something Bluesman who has too much moonshine and the recording, though modern, harks back to the Alan Lomax recordings of the 1930s without the scratches. Influences include Jimmy Rogers, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Leadbelly, and Blind Willie McTell. 

The opening track, "Way Out In The World," begins with the sound of crows and sets the tone for this remarkable work with its walking-pace lament. "Dodo Blues" is a half-spoken conversation intro that segues into a New Orleans1920s slow march that introduces the brass section as well as bass. "Charlie Bostock's Blues" is a sad, true tale of an ex-bandmate who passed away at 27. The final track, "Handyman Blues," tells of Stoneking's time as a maintenance man at a Melbourne elementary school that he used to ride ten miles to every day on a pushbike from the farmhouse he shared with his dog and cat...to sing the Blues you must live it... 

So there it is, this young man has gone back to the heart and soul of the music, just a man and a guitar and some stories. I have no hesitation in giving this work a perfect "10." A true masterpiece that all should own. 

David O'Sullivan is a contributing editor at BluesWax

NOT DEAD YET (AUS)
You may remember the days prior to PC when white singers would blacken their faces, don top hats and sing Al Jolson songs (come to think of it Al Jolson used to blacken his face, wear a top hat and sing Al Jolson songs)

C.W.Stoneking looks and sounds like a black guy who’s whitened his face. (This would be acceptable under section 4173 sub-clause E43 of the PC Code, as it would be classified as Affirmative Action)

CW plays authentic pre war parlour blues and plays it very well. Complete with the black suit on it’s last legs (literally) black hat cocked to one side (Fedora or Homburg, I can never tell the difference), and resonator guitar, CW has a huge repertoire of well known, obscure and even original compositions that evoke visions of a low rent 1920’s Mississippi brothel.

Even his accent is some where between one of the slaves in “Gone with the Wind” and a Northern Territory aboriginal stockman. (sort of Missouri meets the Nullarbor)

Unlike most performers who assume a role CW always looks and sounds the same whether performing or walking down Swanston Street (even Superman took his red undies off occasionally). This may be a little eccentric but it all adds to his character and the line becomes so blurred between performer and persona they become indistinguishable. Hell, he lives in Footscray, who’s going to pull you up on your clothes and accent!

CW gigs regularly around Melbourne, occasionally interstate and has a new album out, the aptly titled “King Hokum”. Four tracks are available for your listening pleasure on his site, www.myspace.com/cwstoneking

Great album, but to really appreciate and understand what he’s about see him live.

Wouldn’t surprise me if he goes home and eats grits and possum tail — well it is Footscray!

INTERIA (AUS)

He plays guitar like a demon, wears natty threads, sings catchy tunes and mutters to himself. The idiosyncratic C.W. STONEKING is a true entertainer who relies on musicianship stagecraft and performance to invoke the spirit of the 1920's Deep South blues in his original hokum style.

C.W. Stoneking presents here his latest release 'KING HOKUM' produced by
J. Walker (Machine Translations), it contains 11 of C.W.'s original numbers.

Set in an imaginary old-time Southern town populated with singing dodo birds, sinister handymen, brokenhearted street singers and old testament field hollerers, the album also features C.W.'s backing band the Primitive Horn Orchestra on a number of tunes helping to complete the 1920's southern gothic blues sound.

AUSTRALIAN MUSIC ON LINE (AUS)

He wears a ragged black suit and a preachin' hat, makes tunes about singing dodo birds, hollers like a 1920's tent show blues shouter, plays guitar like a demon, and mutters to himself onstage. The legendary king of hokum blues, C.W. Stoneking, is a true entertainer who relies on musicianship, stagecraft, and performance to invoke the spirit of 1920's Southern blues in his original hokum style. C.W. Stoneking has just released a brand new album 'King Hokum'. Recorded and produced in 2005 with J. Walker (Machine Translations), 'King Hokum' contains 11 of C.W.'s original songs and highlights his skill as a composer as well as showcasing his tremendous vocal and instrumental style.

'King Hokum' features C.W. Stoneking on his trusty steel bodied dobro and tenor banjo, drawing inspiration from influences that include; pre-war blues, hillbilly, old jazz, prison work songs and 1920's calypso. With the addition of his new band, the Primitive Horn Orchestra on several tracks and the use of found sounds and samples, C.W. Stoneking has made an album that is as original and diverse as it is authentic sounding.

SIDNEY MORNING HERALD (AUS)

There's dodo blues on this album. The doggone, alone in the world, "nothing can be wrong when I'm walking with my baby / when I'm not I feel so lonesome", dodo blues.

Now, sure, the dodo had a lot to feel glum about - that extinct thing for a start - but I'm not sure if the island of Mauritius is big enough to have a crossroads or long enough to have a deep south.

Still, that's the least of the unbelievable aspects here.

This sounds as if someone set up a microphone in a back room around 1927 and recorded direct to wax the songs of an itinerant blues man who does amusing party pieces with friends as well as mournful turns, who does New Orleans swing (check the clarinet and brass, brother) and plantation work songs, who plays his guitar and banjo as if they are as natural a part of him as his hooch-roughened vocal cords. It feels fresh and ready to be served with a side order of collard greens. It's also been made by a white Melburnian in 2006.

C.W. Stoneking's King Hokum should be nothing more than pastiche, an exercise in approximating history full of moves that say, "Hey look, we can make it sound very old school, aren't we clever?" But it isn't; it's funny but it's also a darn fine album on its own merits. Bad Luck Everywhere You Go and She's A Bread Baker are convincing earthy blues; Goin' The Country would have had you tapping toes in Tallahassee as much as Turramurra; and You Took My Thing And Put It In Your Place may well carry its own saloon bar.

When Stoneking plucks out the guitar accompaniment to Charley Bostocks Blues and half-sings, half-moans the story of a man who just wanted to keep out of trouble, you don't spend any time thinking about the song's provenance, just its effect.

Likewise, the comic turns and back-and-forth banter in the lighter songs quickly settle into something natural. Stoneking and co-producer-engineer J. Walker have kept the slickness of modern recording ( in this case, anything after 1950) out of the mix but they have also been just as wise in not trying to over-egg the roughness to mimic an "authentic" sound. Balance is all and the result is that while the Murray River is not the Mason-Dixon line, for now at least, Melbourne feels like the Deep South.

SUBURBAN VOICE (USA)

I didn’t realize this Swiss band had been around since ’86 but that’s the case and here’s a double disc of loose ends—a lot of it live, along with radio performances, demos, out of print vinyl. These guys have always been about keeping it rough—from Beat-Man’s raspy yowl to the garbage-can aural aesthetics on a lot of these songs. In case you weren’t paying attention, the main focus is garage, along with some bluesier and surfier touches. They get crazed and unhinged on some of these songs—a fucked-up sounding “Voodoo Love,” with vocals that sound as though they’re coming through a transistor radio and some backward loop effects for the guitar. In the beginning, there was more of a Childish air at times, such as “Baby I Love You.” A mixed bag, to be sure, and that’s usually been the case with most of the releases I’ve heard from this band. In other words, it’s probably not the best starting point for newcomers to the band, yet there are nuggets scattered over the two discs.

IBEAT (AUS)

“Hokum”. It’s an antiquated colloquialism the closest modern equivalent of which is “bullshit”. Fairly fitting then for an album of traditional blues tunes from a white guy hailing originally from Katherine in the Northern Territory, right?

Wrong. C.W. Stoneking is as authentic a bluesman as the influences that inform his music – luminaries of the genre like Son House, Skip James and yes, Robert Johnson. And, as anyone fortunate enough to have witnessed one of Stoneking’s frequent live performances will attest, he not only sounds the part, he looks it too – the troubadour rarely seen without his trademark garb: workshirt, weathered suit and fedora hat. Currently residing in the inner Melbourne suburb of Footscray, it’s also worth noting that it’s in Stoneking’s backyard that the Maribyrnong River meets the sea. Genuine delta blues anyone?

Of course the real significance of this disc’s title is the preponderance of hokum blues amongst its 11 tracks. Thinly veiled sexual innuendo abounds in songs like She’s A Bread Baker and You Took My Thing and Put It In Your Place and Stoneking pulls it off (no pun intended) with aplomb. “Take a look underneath your tree / There’s a stockingful of hard candy” he sings in On A Christmas Day, a duet with Kirsty Fraser who replies “I’m so glad I waited round the clock / I’ve been waiting all year for a suck of that …”. Yep, it’s ribald cheekiness that recalls 1930s progenitors of the form like Lil Johnson (Get ‘Em From the Peanut Man [The New Hot Nuts]) or Bo Carter (Please Warm My Weiner).

But Stoneking is no comedy act. Indeed he’s dead serious about his craft and King Hokum reflects his keen appreciation for the various styles that huddle under the blues umbrella. There’s a touch of Dixie swing in Dodo Blues, a song inspired by a TV doco on the extinct species that’s filled out with clarinet, trombone and double bass. Charlie Bostock’s Blues is a touching 12-bar weeper that pays homage to Stoneking’s former Blue Tits bandmate who died tragically at 27. Mike Andrews’ boogie-woogie piano propels Goin’ the Country along with a toe-tapping groove, while Way Out In the World draws on the field holler tradition with Stoneking delivering a soulful vocal brimming with conviction.

King Hokum he may be, but hokum C.W. Stoneking most definitely is not.

ANTON BOUWER