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DVDfever.co.uk – Water Tower Bucket Boys: Sole Kitchen CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Independent
- Released: July 2010
- Rating: 8/10
Country bumpkins havin a ball. Think Soggy Bottom Boys, but new.
Apparently the Pacific North West is a bubbling cauldron of activity on the folk music scene.
Now emerging as purveyors of the burgeoning genre, the quaintly named Water Tower Bucket Boys theres four of them – strangely with only three seen on the press release singer Kenny Feinstein on a range of string instruments, equally talented multi-instrumentalist and singer Josh Rabie, Cory Goldman on guitar / banjo and vocals, bassist cum singer Walter Spencer, and session drummer on some tracks, Harley Trotland.
This rootsy collective has been brewing-up storms across their region and Europe with their genuine take on bluegrass belters and soulful balladeering.Equally comfortable belting out square dancing thrills and spills along with tender swooners, WTBBs has a knack of making you feel engaged right from the start.
Principally, this is because their music and lyrics are real, with no hint at being pretentious. The album is bursting with plucking banjos and screeching violins whether they be all-out danceable blasts or thoughtful balladeering, and in some cases, they manage both in one song, typically, opener Crooked Road.Fromage is the kinda thing Jed Clampett and family from the Beverly Hillbillies would be bopping to around their swimming pool.
Bread, continues the hoe-down template, with the ensemble firing on all cylinders once again. Its an invitation to wear your dungarees and check shirt, suck a straw, and twist around the camp-fire, with London Breakdown also keeping up the freewheeling mood.Numb, by comparison, is positively snoozy, but equally delightful, with lashing of banjo wizardry and bundles of melody and lilting vocals, making it the standout track, for me, as it chugs along at a steady pace.
Blackbird .is more of their hoedown gota fria, turning into a frenetic jamboree with chant-like vocals.Taking the pedal off- the- metal, a more laidback Goatshead brings a welcome respite as they lumber through a nifty mid-paced ballad, and once again it brings out a greater subtlety than the heads-down approach.
The album closes with their most commercial song here, that would make a fine radio edit single. This track will be played on my radio show, THE PLUG on Monday 2 August between 2-4PM at www.calonfm.com .
The verdict Joy from start to finish.
Weblinks:watertowerbucketboys.com /myspace.com/watertowerbucketboys
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Crooked Road
2. Fromage
3. Telegraph
4. Bread
5. Tequila With Lime
6. Since Youve Been Gone
7. London Breakdown
8. Numb
9. Blackbird Pickin At A Squirrel
10. Sunday Night Roast
11. Goatheads
12. Im Not A Stranger
13. Heaven
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.