Reviews: Ed Gerhard, Counting the Ways.
Gerhard’s fine interpretations of love songs are a poignant listening experience, with or without a significant other.
From the wine-and-roses sentiment of “Maria Elena” to the breezy Polynesian strains of “Isa Lei,” Gerhard carefully polishes each tune to a luster without adding unnecessary gloss. His medley of “If I Fell/In My Life” is one of the best fingerstyle Beatles arrangements on record.
Most haunting, however, are Gerhard’s renderings of two folk classics, “Wild Mountain Thyme” and ”The Water is Wide,” which he describes as “one of the most beautiful melodies I’ve ever heard.”
You might say that about every selection on this recording.
-Jim Ohlschmidt
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