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Sammy Walker
Misfit Scarecrow
Ramseur Records
On his first new album in twelve years, renegade folk singer Sammy Walker returns with a sixteen-song collection that shows the passing of time doesn't necessarily take the sting out. The Georgia-born Walker first came into prominence in the early '70s, recording two albums for Folkways; the Phil Ochs-produced Song For Patty and 1976's eponymously titled Sammy Walker. Although he followed those with Blue Ridge Mountain Skyline (1976) and an album of Woody Guthrie songs called Songs From Woody's Pen (1977) since then, Walker went a bit patchy, releasing only two more albums in almost twenty years. Although he may not be prolific, Walker still considers himself somewhat of a misfit, not paying attention to styles or trends, so adhering to a regular release schedule doesn't really suit him. Although Walker asserts on the liner notes to Misfit Scarecrow that he has never fit in with the crowd, he's a folk singer and a damn good one at that. Accompanied only by mandolin player Tony Williamson, Walker's Misfit Scarecrow is a spare album of purely played folk, filled with sly political observations, blinding social commentary, and healthy doses of anger and loss. The spiky "Crazy Billy" is a about a neighborhood weirdo; the mournful "Another Song About You," on which Walker sings, "I get by somehow with my little job/Down at the drugstore" has all the incendiary post 9/11 anger of anything off Springsteen's The Rising and "Homer Byron McGuthrie" is a brilliant confluence of a few poets you might have heard of. Walker tackles the environment with the heartbreaking "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone" and "If Jesus Don't Show"; "A Cold Pittsburg Morning" is just devastating and the album closer "Someday I'm Gonna Rock And Roll" is both moving and hilarious.
—Alex Green
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