| One-Dime Blues | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Etta Baker |
| Cover: | One-Dime Blues.album.jpg |
| Released: | 1991 |
| Recorded: | 1988–1990 |
| Genre: | Blues |
| Label: | Rounder |
| Producer: | Wayne Martin, Lesley Williams |
| Prev Title: | Instrumental Music from the Southern Appalachians |
| Prev Year: | 1956 |
| Next Title: | Railroad Bill |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
One-Dime Blues is an album by the American musician Etta Baker, released in 1991.[1] [2] Baker was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship the same year.[3] She supported the album by making a few live appearances.[4] One-Dime Blues was nominated for a W. C. Handy Award for best country blues album.[5]
The album was produced by Wayne Martin and Lesley Williams. It was funded by the North Carolina Arts Council, which produced a documentary about Baker and One-Dime Blues.[6] The recording sessions took place over 21 months, between 1988 and 1990.[6] "But on the Other Hand Baby" is a cover of the Ray Charles song.[7] Baker played clawhammer banjo on "Marching Jaybird". She sang on "Broken Hearted Blues", an original song.
Spin wrote: "Extremely well polished, honest, and sensitive, her unique guitar sound is technically and spiritually magnificent."[8] The News & Observer called the album "a powerful yet sensitive collection of mostly instrumental folk blues and parlor songs." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch deemed it "extremely folksy" blues.[9] The Pittsburgh Press admired the "surprisingly strong vocal" on "Broken Hearted Blues".[10]
The Asbury Park Press concluded that Baker's "impeccable fingering techniques ... prove there's more to the blues than a slashing slide guitar."[11] The Washington Post determined that Baker's "sparse arrangements, leisurely tempos and light touch allow each melody note to shine, even as the harmony notes keep the music flowing ever forward."[12]
AllMusic praised "the arresting vocals, prickly accompaniment, and commanding presence." Acoustic Guitar noted that "Baker's guitar work is characteristically deliberate, clear and lightly swinging whether she's addressing a blues, ragtime, or folk motif."[13]