Michael Hurley vs. Cameron Sharp: The Idiosyncratic Vocal Showdown

This comparison has been rattling around in my head (and in my headphones) for a while now. These two are artists, separated by 44 years and many many miles, but they share a very similar vocal style. You've probably never heard of either one of these guys, one a Columbus performer I first heard just a few months ago, and the other I just became aware of a few weeks ago when the disc from Smithsonian Folkways arrived at my doorstop. According to the myth as told by Wikipedia, Hurley was "discovered" in 1964 and this disc, "First Songs" was subsequently released by Folkways in 1965 (reprinted and recently reissued on the Archival imprint of the Folkways label). And if ever there was a time to care about the genealogy of an artist's recording equipment, this would be the time, because this album was recorded on the same reel-to-reel that captured Lead Belly's Last Sessions, by the legendary Frederick Ramsey III (this album, then, is rather fittingly named, and I'll admit to being partial to another of my suffixed brethren). Now, I'm pretty sure Cameron Sharp can't really hold a candle to a pedigree like that, but I think if we're taking the music on it's own, these two are a pretty fair match.

Listening back on the recordings I've got of Cameron Sharp, from his show with Seth Pfannenschmidt at the Mean Bean Cafe, I feel a little like ol' Freddy Ramsey. The recordings aren't perfect, I can hear when Seth's sister Mandy asked me for a scrap of paper, there's the barista in the background, the playing isn't prisitine and produced. But there's a vitality there, a sense of life that is often lost when an artist retreats to a studio and the producer has his ways with the levels and the reverb and the soul of the entire experience. Cameron's tune "Alone in a Crowded Room" has that life, with his imperfections and his character, his vocals aren't for everyone, but they're as close to perfect as you can get, matching his music like complimentary colors, equal in brightness, saturation, hue, intensity.

Hurley's song, "Pool Hall Clickety Clack" has a similar looseness to it. I'm pretty sure Ramsey wasn't sitting in a busy coffeeshop on a Thursday night when he laid this track down, but wherever he was, you can hear the room around Hurley breathing across the decades. You can hear the distance between the artist and the mic fluctuating as he sways in time with his music, the subtle tap of a foot, the break of a voice as he hits those high notes admonishing us against courting his sister. He sounds like what a folk musician should sound like. His style would not have been out of place on a collection like the Anthology of American Folk Music (speaking of which, I originally thought he was a contemporary of those invaluable field recordings, and was surprised to find he was making music at the same time the Beatles were probably recording "Help!").

But even with his vocals veering off into the realm of idiosyncrasy on "Pool Hall", several of the other tracks on "First Songs" lean much closer to the traditional folk line. Unfortunately, I don't have the same luxury with selections of Cameron's catalog, limited as I am to the four songs I recorded at that cold February show. I imagine, however, that his songs take on his peculiar brand of folk, with a voice that just might rub you the wrong way at first, but with some time, it feels like the softened grooves of a well-loved record. Seth told me that Cameron has taken some criticism for his singing, which I can understand, but at the same time, I'm incredibly grateful that he pushed that criticism to the side to give us all the gift of this wonderful song (and the three others).

I think you probably know who won this battle. Sure, Hurley's got the age and experience and pedigree, but it's Cameron's humanity and sincerity that continues to capture me each time I play that song.

"Alone in a Crowded Room" Cameron Sharp
"Pool Hall Clickety Clack" Michael Hurley

Michael Hurley: Official Wiki Buy
Cameron Sharp (he's got a MySpace, but it's just his personal one)