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Trainwreck Riders:
The members of Trainwreck Riders have been spreading their punk-tinged country rock like barbecue fire through the back yards, train stations, parks and warehouses of San Francisco since they became a band in the early aughts. In The Perch, the follow-up to their 2006 debut, Lonely Road Revival, these city boys may avoid the straightforward twang and honky-tonk of traditional country, but that doesn't make them shy about raiding its barn.
The rootsy spirit of the album derives from its bluegrass influences: the banjo-like guitar picking in “Chug Along,” the saw's Vaudevillian warble in “Livin Daylight.” Steel lap guitar, dobro, accordion and cowbell nudge the sound deeper into backwoods, as does the fiddle — played by the father of drummer Steve Kerwin and guitarist Andrew Kerwin.
They adopted another country-music trick, as well: the use of truism to create themes and choruses. The emotional arcs of these songs come when Peter Frauenfelder sings words like “memories don't live like people do” and “nothing's more pleasant with the past.” – Jenna Humphrey / Prefix Mag
Pine Box Boys
Horrorbilly / Alternative Country / Bloodgrass
LESTER T. RAWW FROM ARKANSAS STARTED THE PINE BOX BOYS in 2003, originally planning to perform new renditions of old murder ballad classics like “The Knoxville Girl,” and “Fair Eleanor.” Soon, however, he found he was composing his own murder ballads, taking many liberties with the form. This lead to their first album, Arkansas Killing Time .
“In my mind, I wanted something that sounded like Willie Nelson in a punk band. I even tried to play a nylon-string guitar hoping it would sound like Trigger. This did not work. At all. So, I switched to a Martin; we sped up the tunes to bluegrass velocities and, well, here we are.” |
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