THE SLOCAN RAMBLERS – Coffee Creek (own label)

Coffee CreekThe Slocan Ramblers are a Canadian quartet with a love for the music of the deep south and Coffee Creek is their second album – a mixture of original songs and tunes with classics and old favourites.

The set begins with the title track, an instrumental duet between mandolin and banjo written by mandolin player Adrian Gross and you’re ready to settle down for a jolly toe-tapping evening. The mood immediately changes, however, with Woody Guthrie’s ‘Pastures Of Plenty’, a powerful song powerfully sung by Frank Evans. Sad to say it still has relevance today and the line about “light sparkling wine” only serves to rub salt into the wounds. I’m not convinced of the wisdom of pairing it with Evans’ ‘Honey Babe’ – it’s a good song but detracts from Guthrie’s message. Whoever said “If you want to send a message, use Western Union” has a lot to answer for.

The Ramblers don’t want to be too serious. Bassist Alastair Whitehead provides two fine songs, ‘Elk River’ and ‘Angeline’, which echo the familiar tropes of country music. Dave Evans’ ‘Call Me Long Gone’ sounds authentically traditional and ‘Groundhog’ is while Roy Acuff’s ‘Streamline Cannonball’ is a bluegrass classic. ‘Rambling Sailor’ is something of a curiosity, clearly an Americanised version of the British song which retains elements of its modal origins. Alton Delmore’s ‘Mississippi Shore’ sounds older than it is and this version makes it sound like something from the minstrel tradition – another curiosity.

Even if you think you don’t like bluegrass I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll enjoy this album, although if you’re one of these fashionable banjo haters there probably is no hope for you.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: http://slocanramblers.com/


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