Have you read my review of The Fiddletree Manuscript? If so, you'll understand my lifelong debt to the music of John Turner. Subsequently, I received and reviewed his album Fiddling Rogues & Rascals, first released in 1981 and repackaged as a CD in 2003. Well, here's another one: A Giant in His Field, first released in 1983 and rereleased as a CD in 2006.

Of course I love it, for all of the same reasons explained in the previous review. Yes, it is more of the same, and yes, that is a very good thing.

This album is nearly 75 minutes long, with close to 60 tunes spanning 22 tracks. Turner plays the fiddle, of course, as well as mandolin, recorder, string bass and concertina. Occasionally, he sings.

While he had a mere half-dozen guest musicians on Fiddling Rogues & Rascals, he rounds up to an even dozen here: Cliff Williams on guitar and vocals, Charles Glendinning on bagpipes, Bill Burdette on bodhran, bones, bouzouki, sticks and sleigh bells, Tom Marshall on harpsichord, piano and spinet, Bill White on recorder, fiddle, pennywhistle and bodhran, Jenny Edenborn on fiddle, John Glick on mandolin, Eric Rice-Johnston on clarinet and bagpipes, Steve Phillips on washboard, Jamie Keena on bones and bells, David Stephenson on banjo and 12-string guitar, and Linda Rice-Johnston on vocals.

Even so, the album never sounds crowded or overproduced.

And, while the fiddle usually dominates, Turner sometimes steps aside to let other musicians shine. For instance, on "The Battle of Somme/Bron Milis," the pipes take the focus, the slow air "The Farewell" spotlights fiddle and piano together, while on "Allison was Her Delight/The Duchess Tree/Rocking Horse of Relig," the lead is passed around among fiddle, harpsichord, banjo and more. Vocals are used rarely, just on three of 22 tracks.

John Turner's fiddle, for reasons explained in previous reviews, will always hold deep meaning for me. He is, truly, A Giant in His Field.

[ visit John Turner online ]