Hand Hewn

Amazon.com
Though aficionados often draw a line between bluegrass and old-time music, a few contemporary artists persist in beautifully blurring that distinction. Led by mandolinist Ron Thomason, a singer in the Ralph Stanley tradition of quavering soulfulness, the Dry Branch Fire Squad bring a dignified, enduring sweetness to these mostly traditional songs. They keep the arrangements simple and crystalline, focusing on exhilarating harmonies rather than instrumental showboating (though the band gets a chance to stretch out on "Nazeer, Nazeer," a Thomason instrumental romp). The set's only drawback (minor to be sure) is that Suzanne Thomas, one of the finest singers in country music, contributes only one lead vocal. But to hear her sing the line "She never sings cuckoo till the fourth day of July" accompanied only by her frail banjo is to know what pure country music is all about. --Roy Kasten

Tracks:

Angelina Baker
I Saw A Man At The Close Of Day
I Can Go To Them
Nazeer, Nazeer (Nazeer, Nazeer)
Atlanta Is Burning
Willye Brennan
While Roving On Last Winter's Night
Sailor's Return
Black Lung
The Cuckoo Is A Pretty Bird
Two Coats
Midnight, The Unconquered Outlaw
I'll Live Again
Papa's Billy Goat
Lonesome Road Blues

Amazon.com

Though aficionados often draw a line between bluegrass and old-time music, a few contemporary artists persist in beautifully blurring that distinction. Led by mandolinist Ron Thomason, a singer in the Ralph Stanley tradition of quavering soulfulness, the Dry Branch Fire Squad bring a dignified, enduring sweetness to these mostly traditional songs. They keep the arrangements simple and crystalline, focusing on exhilarating harmonies rather than instrumental showboating (though the band gets a chance to stretch out on "Nazeer, Nazeer," a Thomason instrumental romp). The set's only drawback (minor to be sure) is that Suzanne Thomas, one of the finest singers in country music, contributes only one lead vocal. But to hear her sing the line "She never sings cuckoo till the fourth day of July" accompanied only by her frail banjo is to know what pure country music is all about. --Roy Kasten

Customer Reviews:

Music you can't get out of you head.......2004-03-12

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!)

Dry Branches Burn Brightly!.......2001-08-06

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.

simply put, about as good as it gets.......2001-05-05

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.

Average customer rating:

A Good Folk Revival
Hand Hewn
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000SEHP9W

Music Album:

Music Album