Tarbox Ramblers

Tarbox Ramblers

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 25, 2000)
• Original Release Date: April 18, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rounder Select
• ASIN: B00004S548
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,842 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2000
On the surface, a modern quartet bringing old-time music into the next century isn't exactly cause for excitement. Yet there's a lot going on inside the music of the Tarbox Ramblers. The gritty guitar work brings to mind the muddiest of Delta blues; the dancing fiddle offers the appeal of string-band music; the rhythms add the buoyancy of jug-band booziness; and the whole band reinvigorates all of these classic styles with a decidedly modern energy and experimental edge. --Marc Greilsamer

Amazon.com
Where folk revivalists too often take a neutered, pedigreed approach, the Tarbox Ramblers prefer a mongrel mix with plenty of growl and bite. Much of the material on this Boston quartet's debut album comes from the Mississippi Delta, with the music's bluesy spirit reinforced by Michael Tarbox's unvarnished vocals and the slash of his slide guitar. Yet fiddler Daniel Kellar sounds like he was borrowed from a traditional string band, while the stand-up bass and stripped-down percussion recall the rhythms of skiffle or jug-band music. The Ramblers' dynamic blows the dust off standards such as "The Cuckoo," "St. James Infirmary" and "Stewball," but what's most encouraging for the band's future are a couple of atmospheric originals: "Third Jinx Blues" and "No Harm Blues." What the Pogues did for traditional Irish music, the Tarbox Ramblers could do for traditional American. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must I Holler, January 19, 2001

By A Customer

When you hear this CD, you'll know that though many of the songs are from the pre-WWII era, the Tarbox Ramblers are not some revivalist project. When most performers tackle songs like these, they turn out ever-so-faithful renditions of the old 78's, prettied up and minus the scratches. Tarbox, however, has a rare genius for coming up with new arrangements that dig deep enough into the spirit of the old songs to make something new, even after those songs have been repeatedly plowed under by decades of reverential covers. Not only that, but the original tunes on the CD shine through, which can only mean there are good things ahead. Listen to the ragged open D sound of Third Jinx Blues, the war-dance beat, Tarbox's low growl, "Oh, honey whadya go an' do that for?" or listen to the snarling guitar and snake charmer drums of No Harm Blues, that shivery slide run that makes you feel the cold ground the singer has just slept on, and then those three perfect cymbal strikes at the end just to rub it in. The same barroom spirit infuses the traditional songs as well with rockabilly-tinged and jug band bass, smooth country fiddle as well as bluesy plucked fiddle, slide ranging from edgy to rapturous, primal drumming, gritty vocals, cracked harmonies, and the closing refrain of "sounds so sweet, it's hard to beat" as a kind of good-natured manifesto. What a recent New York Times article said about a certain influential band applies here: "it can make you wonder if the purpose of most of what is on the market now is simply to help you forget that anything like this music was possible in the first place, or could ever be again." That was how I felt until the night I heard the Tarbox Ramblers. After suffering through years of hockey arena rock, leisure suit blues, professorial folk, and sullen singer-songwriters, I'd finally found what I didn't even know I was looking for.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars electric folk that kicks butt, January 14, 2001

By	R. Sohlberg "B'more Rob" (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This recording by a member of the esteemed Tarbox family is a lot of fun. We saw them live last night and were stomping our feet for a good two hours. The Ramblers play acoustic instruments with electric pickups (which sound pretty good on the fiddle and stand-up bass). Bought their recording at the show and found that the Rounder release accurately captures the intensity that this band has live. Michael Tarbox switches from acoustic to electric guitar for some numbers, but mostly he plays acoustic with a tres cool slide technique. (If like this band, check out RL Burnside and John Spencer and Frum the Hills -- if you can find it).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Folk Art for the Ears, May 8, 2000

By	Bridget Lehane (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

The Tarbox Ramblers slide and drum and sing and strum their way into the American collective unconscious with songs from the grittier, sweatier, dustier edges of the good ole days. They make you want to travel. They make you want to see get to the old Delta, the panhandle, the places where dirt and sweat live - the guts and heart of the America. You'll want to shout and sing and cry and moan and barn dance and slow-slide your hips to a shimmering rawness before the CD is finished. Get it. Then get it for your friends.