Harry Manx

Harry Manx continues to create some truly unique, multicultural folk music on his sixth record. Manx manages to incorporate elements of East Indian music with his earnest blues to create something genuinely soulful. His use of the guitar/sitar hybrid, the Mohan Veena, adds a lovely texture to a rendition of JJ Cale’s "San Diego-Tijuana” and flirts beautifully with his own lap steel and tamboura on "A Single Spark.” Manx can play it close to straight too, on thoughtful songs like the gospel-tinged "Never the Twain” and a subdued reading of the Band’s "It Makes No Difference.” In other hands, "Afghani Raga” and "Talkin Turban” might seem contrived or overwrought but Manx infuses them both with a purity and purpose. These Mantras are as magical as any music Manx has released to date and their eclectic sounds will surely appeal to a broad set of ears.