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If one of CwaS's contributors submitted a review to me that I knew to be a paraphrased reworking of a press release I'd, uh, fire their ass, sure I would. But as my knowledge of bluegrass doesn't even extend to 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou', let alone Del McCoury, Ralph Stanley or godfather Bill Monroe, this is one where I'll take the words of those more enlightened and rip 'em off good.



Both Jim Krewson and Jennie Benford were, it says here, born with bluegrass in their blood. And, despite the customary stints with rock and punk, they were destined to end up making the music that first had them striking strings with plastic and got those tonsils awarbling (I wrote that bit). Swapping lead vocals and handling guitar and mandolin duties themselves, the supporting cast (The Pinetops one would assume) add further traditional instrumentation (fiddle, upright bass, banjo), the ensuing vibe one that could best be described as 'old-time', 'authentic' even.



I'm not sure if it's an appropriate response but the whole thing makes me feel like pushing this keyboard and monitor off the desk and slapping down a huge, unwieldy typewriter; preferably one with a couple of dodgy keys and a reassuringly loud 'clunk' as hammer meets parchment. In fact, I think I'll move to a cabin in the woods, chew some tobacco while soaking in a rusty tin tub, and see if I can come up with something as shit-kickingly alive as this. Then again maybe it's something you gotta be born with.

Matt Dornan
March-April 2003

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