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Tarbox Ramblers Make It Fresh

Much of what makes the Tarbox Ramblers' eponymous new release such a delightful find — it's easily one of the best this year — is the sense that hearing these guys live would be a ripping great time.

Between drummer Jon Cohan's rumbling beats and Michael Tarbox's fat 'n' fuzzy guitar tones they just play the music raw, for all it's worth. With Tarbox's slide guitar, Daniel Kellar's old-timey fiddle and Johnny Sciascia's rockabilly-like bass fiddle bopping in time on "Honey in the

Rock" (RealAudio excerpt), for instance, it's easy to envision a club floor packed with sweaty dancers. "Down South Blues" and "Shake 'Em on Down" (which also benefits from Tarbox's loose-limbed slide playing) are fired up with riffs that wouldn't have been out of place on the Stones' Let It Bleed or Exile on Main Street.

"Columbus Stockade" (RealAudio excerpt) is more like a bouncy reel than Doc Watson's tougher version. Hand claps, tambourine and the answering chorus give "Stewball" the feel of a gospel spiritual. "The Cuckoo" gets a more measured treatment than, say, the dramatic Katy Moffatt-Dave Alvin duet on Moffatt's Loose Diamond album, but "Oh Death" finds Tarbox wailing "I know my time ain't long" as if he could stave off the Grim Reaper by dint of sly defiance and passion alone. On Bukka White's "Third Jinx Blues" (RealAudio excerpt), one of the most compelling songs, Tarbox sounds as if he's channeling the hard-traveling bluesman himself.

Modestly produced (by Chris Rival) but played with infectious verve, Tarbox Ramblers demonstrates the value of ingenuity; the 12 public-domain tunes are presented in new arrangements and tunings that serve to underscore the songs' ongoing relevance. No fusty museum pieces here. The band obliterates genre distinctions while fashioning an energizing sound that's simultaneously respectful and original — an earthy hybrid of backwoods blues and old-time hillbilly rolling over rock rhythms.

— sonicnet.com staff report

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