Ghosts In The Shadows [CD]

On his classy new album Joseph Topping demonstrates he possesses one of the best voices around, is a talented songwriter and no mean guitarist. 'Ghosts in the Shadows' is Joe's debut solo album with Fellside records and is a mix of traditional and original music. Sometimes bluesy, sometimes trad British and sometimes Americana in feel. The songs were mostly either written, inspired by or learned on his 1400 mile walk across America to raise money and awareness for the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund after Hurricane Katrina. With an old Gibson guitar strapped to his back, Joe walked from Chicago and the shores Lake Michigan in the north, south to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. A journey rich in musical flavour and history: Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, Memphis, the Mississippi Delta, Baton Rouge; sleeping along the way in motels, cornfields, cotton fields, graveyards, backyards and sugar plantations, meeting musicians and characters along the road which have added to and inspired Joe's own music, before finally - and three pairs of shoes later – being marched into New Orleans by The New Wave Brass Band. As well as being an accomplished singer-songwriter, Joe has been described as an innovative slide guitarist, bringing bottleneck slide to traditional British and Celtic music using his National resophonic guitar. He is joined on this album by Miranda Sykes (of Show Of Hands Fame), fiddle player Joe Wright and drummer Richard Adams. Joe spent time touring the UK and Europe in The John Wright Band and his obvious talents have also been seized upon by folk/rock legend Ashley Hutchings who in December 2007 asked him to join his band, "The Rainbow Chasers" alongside Ruth Angell and Jo Hamilton. Joe also plays with the mightily impressive, Elbow Jane (also on the Fellside label), who have been making quite a name for themselves on the British folk scene over the last couple of years.