Customer Reviews

Whiskey Women & Death

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4 star:		(1)
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If you're sick and tired of new "bluegrass" and yearn for that old-time mournful sound before bluegrass bands started sounding more and more like super-polished boy bands, this is for you. I am very selective about bluegrass. I like it rustic. I like it dark and troubled. Too bad this album is priced so high. It's worth it, though. There were weeks at a time when this was all I would listen to. It's good to drink to, by yourself, with friends, with that girl you're courting, driving through the country, the highway, the woods.

I'm a pretty ardent bluegrass and old time music fan and this album is as good as it gets. It really captures the Earl Brothers at their best. The banjo playing is remarkably soulful and the singing - particularly the interaction between the high and low voices - is exceptional. I also love the themes of drinking, misery and lost love. The more mournful the better in my book. If you doubt how good this is, check out the reviews on cdbaby.com. Everybody raves about them. I listened to this disc obsessively. It's that good. Get it!

With the exception of the traditional "Cluck Ol' Hen" which has been arranged and adapted with new lyrics, the cuts on "Whiskey, Women & Death" are originals that showcase the Earl Brothers' brand of honky tonky bluegrass. While playing original material, the Earls arrange and play their music within the parameters of a dogmatic traditional style that shares banjo and mandolin breaks. While I miss hearing a fiddle in this context, a defining character of The Earl Brothers is that their guttural singing is some of the "lonesomest" around. At times, they have a unique edginess that sends chills up your spine. "Hard Times Down the Road," for example, speaks of cruising down town, drinking Governor's Train, listening to the radio, and meeting girls. "Whiskey Bound" states: "I had it coming/Sorrow I've found/Long neck bottles/And I'm whiskey bound." This is clearly a thematic concept album that focuses on some of vices of our society.

The Earl Brothers are John McKelvy (guitar), Robert Earl Davis (banjo), Steve Pottier (mandolin), and Pat Campbell (bass). Bobby and John sing the leads with a rustic, mountain sentience. Some of the cuts, like "Broken Motor," seem to indicate the singers have an affinity for a more Dylanesque bluegrass sound. Without any unnecessary flash, the band can also tear up a raucous original instrumental like "Mountain Rumpus." I can almost hear them chuckling in the background.

From Virginia, Bobby Earl took up banjo in the 60s and played weekly on the New Dominion Barn Dance with The Virginia Gentlemen. John McKelvy, from Florida, is a self-taught guitar picker who has been inspired by such disparate artists as Jimmy Martin and John Prine. Mandolinist Steve Pottier has played bass with Frank Wakefield, Johnson Mountain Boys, and Laurie Lewis. Pat Campbell has recorded with the Good Old Boys (on their 1975 "Pistol Packin' Mama" album with Don Reno, Chubby Wise, Frank Wakefield and David Nelson), as well as with John Herald of The Greenbriar Boys. Since the release of this album, Pat has moved on to other endeavors, and Josh Sidman is now the bass player with The Earl Brothers.

If these songs have any truth to them, I'm darn surprised that The Earl Brothers are still alive. After hearing their hard luck stories of boozing, cruising, rambling, gambling and womanizing, I'm left with a ecstatic feeling of relief that such misfortune is there's and not mine! (Joe Ross)

This is not gospel bluegrass. It's more like biker gang bluegrass. These guys capture the essence of blues and lay it down in passionate and pure hardcore bluegrass. If you like Steve Earl's "The Mountain" CD then you will love The Earl Brothers.