The Triumph of Langhorne Slim...@ The Mercury Lounge

Langhorne Slim; Hoots & Hellmouth; Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson; J Roddy Waltson & The Business
@ Mercury Lounge
New York, NY - April 30, 2008

Why is Langhorne Slim so damn good? Is it the showmanship and the skill? Is it the class act good nature stage presence? There may not be a nicer fella making music today. His guitars kept going out of tune, he broke a string, other stuff was amiss - at his big record release party, and he took it all in stride, having fun to the very end. It was a special night - after years and years of working hard, Langhorne was headlining a sold out (way in advance) show on a Wednesday night at the Mercury Lounge. And just fresh off the heels of opening for Josh Ritter at the Music Hall, where he himself will be headlining in a month. With his excellent War Eagles in tow, Langhorne Slim is settling in comfortably for a long career of well deserved success.

Hoots & Hellmouth remain an exceptionally fun and well-oiled bluegrass stomp machine out of Philadelphia. They are still one of the best kept secrets in the Northeast but for how much longer?

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson has too long of a name and a terrible, lazy, out of tune singing voice. Except for a few songs that had something to latch on to, most of it was adrift in nothingness. What the heck was this?

J Roddy Waltson & The Business are essentially a 70's arena rock band doing boogie woogie blues. It would be almost uninspired and devoid of creativity if it wasn't for the fact that this was about as energetic and fervent a band as has been seen in awhile. The energy, the raw thunder, was off the scale. And they attracted some interesting people in their audience...in other words, stay tuned because you may be seeing this band in some bigger places real soon.

O'Death Leads a Hootenanny at the Mercury Lounge

O'Death; Salts and Samovar; Hoots and Hellmouth; The Goddamn Rattlesnake
@ Mercury Lounge
New York, NY - December 21, 2007

O'Death's punk-metal inspired bluegrass is a stand-out take on the Appalachian and Delta revival sounds that have remained vibrant for most of this decade. Greg Jamie's shrieky metal voice is a bizarre fit with the strumming and the pickin' but it works.
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Salts and Samovar recalls the lumbering side of Murder by Death and that ilk, which it means it sometimes works a whole hell of a lot and sometimes it doesn't work at all, and sometimes both in the same song. Their cover of Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man" is their big highlight.
Hoots and Hellmouth owned the night with their exceptional hybrid of bluegrass melodies and Philly soul vocals. These Philadelphia boys sound like they are taking you to church and even Satan has a good time there.
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The Goddamn Rattlesnake kicked off this plaid convention with their more Western-spun, banjo-driven country music that included a Merle Haggard cover.

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