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Book review: "The Song Train: 56 Great Two-Chord Songs Anyone Can Play"
By Harvey Reid & Joyce Andersen | Published by Woodpecker Records $49.95
www.woodpecker.com or www.songtrain.net
Available at RiverRun Bookstore - 603-431-2100

Have you ever noticed that they don’t build houses with front porches anymore? Sure, maybe a back deck for grilling, but television put an end to the tradition of sitting out on the front porch in the evening, chatting with neighbors. In those days, maybe some friends would stop by, then someone would pull out a guitar, and soon everyone would be singing along. Before the blossoming of the gramophone, music was an active, participatory entertainment for families, but the spread of recorded music has led to passive listening at home and in concert halls.

When you talk about home and garden now, the family jamboree hardly comes to mind—unless, of course, you live here on the Seacoast and know Harvey Reid and Joyce Andersen. At a recent evening here at RiverRun Bookstore the couple unveiled their new book, Song Train, and performed several songs from the collection, aided at times by their two-year-old son.

The book, published by Woodpecker Records, is a handsomely made production full of vintage photographs, guitar tips, and instructions on how to play the chords. A little history about each song is also included (did you know that Eric Clapton learned to play “Tulsa Time” backstage at a concert in Nashville?).

The premise of the book is simple. Anyone can make enjoyable music. Sure, becoming a master of the acoustic guitar is a feat reserved for greats like Harvey Reid, but anyone can learn a couple chords, and the results can be fantastic. Reid says that he didn’t want newcomers to guitar to be bored to death playing “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” or other childish songs that make up the beginner’s repertoire. Instead, the book tells you how to play 56 songs, comprising a stunning diversity, that can be played with only two chords. These songs have, in the past, been recorded by such greats as Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Ted Nugent (!), Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello and Elvis Presley.

The book comes with four compact discs that feature Andersen and Reid’s arrangements of these songs. Andersen is a New Hampshire native and has performed as a fiddler everywhere from the Seacoast to the Conan O’Brien Show and Carnegie Hall. Reid has been performing and recording for 35 years. He wrote the first college textbook for folk guitar, and his album Steel Drivin’ Man was the only recording of the last 30 years chosen by Acoustic Guitar Magazine as one of its “Top 10 Folk CDs Of All Time.”

I find it inspiring that two such amazingly accomplished musicians understand the need for everyone to have music in their lives, and that making it is much more fun than listening to it, no matter how basic your skills. This is a book that I hope will inspire people to create a little music in their homes. Don’t be afraid, it’s only two chords…