The backward-glancing trio Rum Drum RAMBLERS IS MOST COMMONLY THOUGHT
OF AS A BLUES BAND, and certainly, the young men in the group seek to
revive a certain strand of acoustic, prewar blues music. But after
listening to its second album, Mean Scene, one could argue that the
RAMBLERS IS A SOUL BAND; just listen for a few minutes to guitarist
and singer Mat Wilsons sweet, husky voice and feel the easy rhythm of
the best early R&B singers. Or perhaps its best to describe it as a
country act: Theres so much twang-bangin and swift-pickin on Nothin
New that Buck Owens is probably tipping his ten-gallon hat to these
fellows from the great beyond. But then, terming the Rum Drum RAMBLERS
AS COUNTRY (or blues or soul) would ignore the jazzy underpinnings
that Joey Glynn pumps out of his sonorous upright bass and the
forceful blowing of its guest horn players. Better yet to put genre
tags aside and let the RAMBLERS INTERPRETATION OF AMERICAN FOLK IDIOMS
FAN YOU LIKE A HUMID BREEZE. Its easy to pair the RAMBLERS WITH THE
SIMILARLY-styled Pokey LaFarge after all, Glynn and harmonica player
Ryan Koenig make up two-thirds of LaFarges South City Three. But where
LaFarge is a passionate performer, he is never ruffled; his
gentlemanly demeanor doesnt allow for it. The RAMBLERS DONT MIND IF A
LITTLE SAWDUST GETS MIXED IN WITH THEIR WHISKEY, and that looseness
spreads a freewheeling flavor over the dozen tracks on Scene.
Trash-can percussion and second-line horns adorn the lazy shuffle of
Get Behind the Wheel, and the electric fuzz of All the Little Days
proves that the band doesnt play it straight even when plugged in. In
fact, the only constant across these songs is that Wilsons intuitive
guitar playing bluesy, jazzy, soulful and twangy is tough to pin down.
Hes a stylist who has ingested decades worth of popular (and
unpopular) music, and he and his equally flexible bandmates spit these
influences back out in familiar but thrilling fashion.
music
concerts
acoustic
blues
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06/07/2019 Last update