Customer Reviews

Hand Hewn

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The Dry Branch Fire Squad has been so good for so long that its relative obscurity is both a shame and a mystery. Or maybe it's because the band resists neat categorization. Though it plays the bluegrass circuit, the Squad is not exactly a bluegrass band. Its roots go deep into older folk traditions, and the usual bluegrass ensemble and the usual Scruggs-style banjo picking are employed only when they make sense. Otherwise, instrumentation may be as rudimentary as a single old-time banjo (as on band member Suzanne Thomas's reinvention of Clarence Ashley's version of "The Cuckoo Is a Pretty Bird") or as off-the-wall archaic as hambone, feet, and fiddle (Ron Thomason's take on the traditional "Papa's Billy Goat"). Sometimes it's just guitar and bass (the nearly forgotten race-horse folk song "Midnight, the Unconquered Outlaw"), or unaccompanied vocal duet (Thomason and Hazel Dickens on Dickens's wrenching "Black Lung"). And if another ostensible bluegrass band has ever recorded the highwayman ballad "Willye Brennan" (aka "Brennan on the Moor"), I have never heard it. Happily, the band eschews the standard Irish-pub version and finds a fascinating, longer variant, performing it in a sort of updated mountain string-band setting. And did I mention the Squad's ragged-but-right harmony singing, used to particularly heart-breaking effect on the Appalachian lament "While Roving on Last Winter's Night"? I suppose that if you want to characterize what's going on here, you could say it's old-time music informed by bluegrass, but then I guess the opposite is just as true. Whatever it is, it is the real deal, the true heart, the pure voice. Deceptively simple, lovingly executed, the music of the Dry Branch Fire Squad is as good as authentic American music gets.

After just seeing DBFS at our great Bluegrass Festival, sponsored by MBOTMA, I was compelled to buy their CD. I walked over to the musician's tent, spoke with all of the band members, got the CD signed, and took it home for a spin. This CD is a testament to the band's talent and versatility. Leader Ron (Rawn) Thomason's mandolin and crosspicking guitar skills are highlighted, along with something rarely heard: the Hambone. Ron's hambonery (word?) is showcased during "Papa's Billy Goat". Just his hands, feet and a fiddle accompany his telling of an old tale similar to "Bill Grogan's Goat". The only thing better than hearing this is seeing it live. "Black Lung" is a beautiful duet telling the miner's woes and you will believe you are in Appalacia, feeling for them.

Every tune on this well crafted CD is wonderful. The band is tight too. Pictured on the liner, though not credited, is their young hot guitar player, Adam MacIntosh (sp?). After watching many performers at the festival over the weekend, this young man stood out. Though only 20 years old, he wailed like a picker possesed. This young man will be a blazing star within Bluegrass-or any genre he wants- and also plays a fine mandolin. Please buy this Cd. If you're good enough to get to heaven, this is the music you will here when you are there.

Bluegrass music is happy music, no matter how the lyrics read. This CD is just phenomenal. A few of the tracks (Angelina Baker, in particular) are so good that they'll be stuck in your head for hours. And that's a good thing. You'll love this CD! (If you ever get a chance to see Dry Branch live, sell your car, fly cross country, auction off the kids, but do whatever it takes to get a ticket. You won't regret it!)

I ran across this album at a used bookstore and loved the cover. Which means, I had never heard of DBFS. Gave it a listen, made the buy and have loved it ever since.