Dharma Blues is the title of a recording by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 guitarist Peter Lang

Peter Lang (guitarist)

Peter Lang is an accomplished acoustic guitarist, from the same genre, American Primitivism, as the better-known guitarists Leo Kottke and John Fahey. All three artists shared the Takoma Records label, and a joint-titled album released in 1974 features a selection of songs from...

, released in 2002.

History

Dharma Blues was Lang's first release since his 1986 American Stock. Lang's first solo album, The Thing at the Nursery Room Window

The Thing at the Nursery Room Window

The Thing at the Nursery Room Window is the title of the debut recording by American folk and blues guitarist Peter Lang, released in 1973. It was reissued in 2000 with three bonus tracks.-Reception:...

was released in 1972 on Takoma Records

Takoma Records

Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by John Fahey in the late 1950s.. It was named after Fahey's hometown, the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.-History:...

. Along with Lang, John Fahey

John Fahey (musician)

John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...

 launched the careers of other notable artists on Takoma, including Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...

. Lang had toured and recorded for nearly ten years before leaving the business.

In his liner notes for Dharma Blues, Lang states "I had distanced myself from the music business for many years, but never the music. Dogs howl, people play music. When the moon is full, I howl."

Reception

Allmusic reviewer Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. states in his review that Dharma Blues "pretty much picks up where Lang and his fellow pickers left off in the 1970s. Unlike Fahey or, say, Robbie Basho, however, Lang's fingerpicking seldom uses dissonance or shows the influence of Eastern music... Most of the pieces on Dharma Blues are self-penned and have enough bite to keep them from falling into new age sameness."

Track listing

All songs by Peter Lang except "Poor Boy

Poor Boy Blues

"Poor Boy Blues" or "Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home" is a traditional blues song of unknown origin. As with most traditional blues songs, there is great variation in the melody and lyrical content as performed by different artists...

" by John Fahey

John Fahey (musician)

John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...

 and Bukka White

Bukka White

Booker T. Washington White , better known as Bukka White, was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. "Bukka" was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White's given name Booker, by his second record label .-Biography:Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, White was the...

 and "Guitar Rag" by Sylvester Weaver

Sylvester Weaver

Sylvester Weaver was an American blues guitar player and pioneer of country blues.-Biography:On October 23, 1923, he recorded in New York City with the blues singer Sara Martin "Longing for Daddy Blues" / "I've Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind" and two weeks later as a soloist "Guitar Blues" /...

.

1. "Thicker Than Wicker" - 3:28
2. "Walter's Wings" - 2:12
3. "Variations on Lampe" - 2:05
4. "Lost on Chainbridge Road" - 2:42
5. "Poor Boy/Guitar Rag" - 2:22
6. "Halloween Blues" - 3:17
7. "Big Mo's Habenero" - 2:02
8. "Spanish Fandango" - 3:05
9. "Dogs Howl" - 9:32
10. "Evangeline's Moon" - 3:18
11. "Itasca" - 5:13
12. "Dharma Blues" - 11:01

Personnel

• Peter Lang – guitar

Production notes:

• Produced by Peter Lang
• Engineered by Peter Lang and Michael McKern
• Mixed and mastered by Michael McKern
• Associate producers: James Hauck, Thom Waters, Michael McKern