What should be more fit to be given an Americana treatment (with quite a twist, though) than America itself? Paul Messinger who hails from North Carolina is primarily in the focus as a harmonica player, but on America: Assorted Tales and New Myth, he presents himself as quite a singer, songwriter, and lyricist, although some will raise their eyebrow to his liberal stance.
But let's start with music first. Messinger’s harmonica playing is all over this album, but it in no way dominates and overpowers the music. His playing style of the diatonic harmonica follows that of his teacher, Howard Levy, one of the co-founders of Bela Fleck’s Flecktones. You can freely place it anywhere between the harmonica giant Little Walter, and no less remarkable member of War, Lee Oskar.
The music itself has quite a quirky touch, from the gospel-tinged introductory “America”, through reggae-fied “The Speaker” (ending with some serious African drums), heavy guitar of “Device Dyslexia” which suddenly veers of in an Elvis Costello-like direction, or any other sort of a bewildering number of musical variations present on this album.
Messinger’s vocal delivery also varies and keeps pace with the music, anywhere from John Hiatt’s tenor to Jonathan Richman’s fragility.
And then comes the album’s subject matter and its lyrics. As Messinger himself explained elsewhere: "America 2.0 is a song-cycle about the ‘idea’ of America…What is this place we call America?...Who are these people we call Americans?...The idea of America has, for over two centuries, drawn the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of mankind to these shores…Let us go then, you and I, and begin-again to explore the place(s) peopled with that idea… "
What he has come up with is a vision that can be called pessimistic with a definite hope hidden somewhere at the end of the tunnel.
Messinger opens the album (“America”) with the lines: "Take me to the land of the madmen and the poets, take me to the Waffle House at 4 am and you will know America." And that sets a tone for the rest of the album. The subjects are all over (it is a big country) and Messinger's passion is obvious throughout and it reflects on the music.
So, not your everyday straightforward Americana album as such, but a varied musical experience that will make you seriously think about what Paul Messinger has to say.
