ALBUM REVIEW: Po' Ramblin' Boys - Never Slow Down
It’s perhaps the ultimate compliment to say that Never Slow Down would work perfectly in a noisy bar setting - precisely the place where people aren’t over-thinking notions of musical purity.
You can read my full review for Holler Country here…
Like some other genres, bluegrass seems to elicit endless questions about whether someone who plays the music is coming from an “authentic” place or not. What I love about the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys’ new album — the recording debut of fifth “Boy” Laura Orshaw as an official member — is that, for as much as the band concerns itself with honoring the history of genre, they make perfect music for a loud bar and grill, just the kind of setting where no one’s gonna be bothered with those kinds of concerns because they’re too busy enjoying the hell out of what they’re hearing.
And I mean “bar and grill” as a compliment — those can be some of the most pleasant settings to watch bands (audience talking aside), to say nothing of the fact that the Ramblin’ Boys can play. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in a backstage summit between them and The Punch Brothers, whose new one I also got to review here. There’s a muscularity to what the Ramblin’ Boys do that belies the academic, gear-nerd dedication of frontman/bandleader C.J. Lewandowski, who tells a fascinating story about how he traveled to Greece to buy a mandonlin what was numbered on the same day as the one that became genre godfather Bill Monroe’s trademark.
And those harmonies from Orshaw… wooooo! (Like on this song:)