Thursday 11 April 2013

Victor McManemy - "Land of the Free" (1983 US Private Folk LP)


Victor McManemy with Tom Dufelmeier & friends - "Land of the Free"
Very great Folk LP by this anti-nuclear activist.

Listen to this 'live' performance :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJa58nzC1mc

"Perhaps Northern Michigan’s greatest ‘undiscovered’ folk player, Victor McManemy had a voice in the same neighborhood as that of Gordon Lightfoot, with songwriting talents to match when he released “Land of the Free” in 1983.
McManemy, a resident of Old Mission Peninsula, also had an attitude firmly on the side of the underdog, writing in the lost tradition of the angry, aggrieved balladeer on behalf of the dispossessed, with the injustice to Native Americans being a favorite theme. The album also took a bare-knuckles stand on issues of the day, such as the Big Rock nuclear power plant near Charlevoix (“Big Rock Point’s On the Line”) and atomic weapons (“Let’s Stop the Tridents!”).
Album offers a revelation on the superb musicianship found on the album’s nine songs, with McManemy performing on six-and-12 string guitars, Tom Dufelmeier on six-string acoustic lead guitar, Jerry Sprague on bass, and exquisite harmonies from Linda Dufelmeier.
Back in the early days of Northern Express, we used to play “Land of the Free” at rocket-liftoff volume while laying out the paper, finding inspiration in its powerful songs. It’s simply a knockout of an album and a master’s class in the power of folk."
(review from Northern Michigan's Newsweekly, Nothern Express)

Record : Exc+
Cover : Exc
Price : 60,00 Euros (+ expedition costs calculated by the Belgian Post office)
Payment : PAYPAL or Bank transfer (ask for my account number)
Contact : etienne.reyser@gmail.com