New Music Review – Rumpke Mountain Boys – “Moon”

For the past several years, Cincinnati based jamgrass quartet Rumpke Mountain Boys have gained notoriety with their signature blend of bluegrass dubbed ‘trashgrass’.   With fiery picking and in-your-face jamming, the award winning group known for their high energy, dance heavy performances follow up their 2012  “Trashgrass” release with their new offering, “Moon”, which was recorded at Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studios in Memphis, TN.  And while “Moon” will surely fulfill the appetite of long time RMB fans with the ferocious licks and take no prisoners attitude that has made Rumpke Mountain Boys into the music festival darlings they are today, you can’t help but notice that it also shows a more mature side of the band.   Not only are these boys masters of their respective instruments, but each have become accomplished vocalists and songwriters, and there is a soulful aspect to the album that many times is missing from traditional bluegrass music.

The album opens with a joyful “Side of the Road”, which shows off bassist JD Westmoreland’s soulful Memphis vocal stylings.  Guitarist Adam Copeland’s nod to music festivals, “Relativity” follows, a song most Rumpke fans will recognize.   With lyrics like “Music by moonshine all night, leaves are plastic neon lights,” and lines about staying up until the sun rises, the selection is a fun-filled fan favorite sing-along that has been showing up on Rumpke’s set lists for the past few months.  “Falling Behind”, a tune by mandolin player Ben Gourley with beautiful three part harmonies and meandering guitar fills, would appeal to the more traditional bluegrass fan, as would banjoist Jason Wolfe’s “Cincinnati Moon”, where Wolfe belts out emotional lyrics in homage to his hometown.

Other highlights on the 13 song album are “Mermandingo”, where the interplay between guitar and mandolin is a great example of two musicians playing exactly what is needed without ever stepping on each other’s toes; “Foot Steps” reflects the hard-driving picking that Rumpke is known for, complimented by Gourley’s thought-provoking lyrics and “Raven on the Line”, a break-up song with Willie Mitchell’s son, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell adding body and a certain fullness with his Hammond B-3 organ.  Rumpke Mountain Boys have always been known for their genre-defying style, which comes across in the instrumental “Duck Butter”, where Wolfe plays a duck call, and the psychedelic Gourley composition “Something to Say”, a gem of a song with a variety of instruments and sounds played by the band and crew sandwiched in between a catchy tune with the fast picking Rumpke is known for.  The album closes beautifully with the traditional Southern prison ballad “Ain’t No More Cane”, a song that was made famous by Bob Dylan and was also drunkenly sung in the movie “Festival Express” by Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Bob Weir and friends while they were on a train going to their next gig.

 

 This album can be appreciated by traditional folk/bluegrass fans and trashgrass aficionados alike, as what really stands out are the vocals and songwriting. Westmoreland’s soul-dripping Memphis-bred sound, Gourley’s unique nasal twang, Wolfe’s gruff, powerful vocals and Copeland’s expressive lyrics combine to create a team of singer-songwriters that I would put up against any other band out there. Everyone who has seen Rumpke Mountain Boys perform can attest to their musical ability and powerful live shows, which can be difficult to capture in the studio.   But the release oozes with crisp, powerful performances by the group recorded and mixed in a way that still sounds originally organic, clear and full without sounding over-processed and canned.  While “Moon” is not as unapologetically in-your-face as 2012’s “Trashgrass“, it still reflects the quartet’s signature fiery style while introducing listeners to a new, more mature side of the award-winning group that continues to explore new territory with their music while staying true to their roots, no matter how trashy they may be.