Young, hot string bands in the Times
 by Cliff Garber  ·  5 November 2006

There’s a great article by Geoffrey Himes in the Sunday New York Times Arts section on contemporary newgrass bands like the Mammals and Crooked Still, who you may have seen in our hallowed hall. Here’s a sample:

The Mammals didn’t sound like a bluegrass outfit, however; they didn’t emphasize hot solos, clean arrangements or three-part high, lonesome singing. Instead all five musicians attacked the old fiddle tune at once, hooting and hollering, pushing the beat and improvising simultaneously. They sounded like an inspired garage-rock band using hillbilly instruments.

Which might be a shorthand definition for old-time, string-band music, whether you’re talking about the original explosion in the 1920s or today’s aftershock. In this decade more and more musicians under the age of 30 have picked up banjos and fiddles and hit a burgeoning circuit of festivals, small-town theaters and big-city nightclubs. They don’t want to play their parents’ music, but they do long for a tradition older than themselves, one with memorable melodies, deep stories and a boisterous beat.

Find it online here.