Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown - Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown

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Music reviews of Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown

Music Review: A triumph of limitations
Rating: 5 Stars

Bruce Molsky and Big Hoedown are similarly constrained by the simple tunes and repetitions of Old Time music, and these very limitations seem to propel them into wild feats of innovation, improvization and creativity. This CD is pure joy to listen to, and to sing along with, if you're so inclined. The very simplicity masks the prodigious musicianship of these three, and the difficulty and complexity of what they're actually doing.

This is one of my favorite CD's, and I listen to it all the time.

Description of Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown

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This old-timey music predates the bright tone and fast tempos of bluegrass as well as the sing-along melodies and rousing sentiments of '60s folk music. This is a slower, darker music that came out of mountain communities where death was a constant threat and Saturday night a brief respite. Molsky digs his bow into his fiddle-strings as if the resulting drones and bird cries might suggest the anxiety of that threat and the yearning for that respite. The fiddler, who also sings and plays banjo, is joined by guitarist Beverly Smith and fiddler/banjo player Rafe Stefanini. Their album includes two songs from the Harry Smith Anthology--"Wagoner's Lad" and "Train on the Island." Songs such as "Pretty Saro" and instrumentals such as "Shove the Pig's Foot a Little Bit Further into the Fire" are strange and powerful enough to have found a place. --Geoffrey Himes

Country CDs

• Music > Styles
• Folk