Reviews
John O'Neill
Scott McLennan
Bill Thomas
David Ritchie
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From the back cover of our
CD:
The search for great musical experiences has
propelled me, it seems, through the whole of my life.
That pursuit eventually landed me at a party in Jim
Reidy's house where, midday, I noticed a shift in the
quality of the music. I investigated and found that where
there had been a CD player, now there were three people
playing an old fiddle tune. Later that day it had
escalated into three separate groups of folks in
different parts of the house (and backyard) carrying on
musical conversations, old Carter Family tunes,
traditional instrumentals, originals, standards. It was a
revelation. This was not a party given by session
musicians and attended by record industry types.
Scientists, web designers, and postal workers carried
their instrument of choice from room to room, and they
were good!
I first saw Chip, Jim, and Paul backing up the great
Spider John Koerner. Months later, while playing a
Chicken Chokers record on my radio show I discovered I
was again listening to Chip, Jim, and Paul. When I
actually met them, they were three-fifths of an old-time
string band called the Primitive Characters. But they had
things to say outside the strictures of old-time music,
and Twang was born. Robbie Phillips joined the three on
his handmade one-string bass (calling it a washtub bass
doesn't really do it justice). Individually these guys
had absorbed it all old-time, honky-tonk, fringe rock
Œn‚ roll, gonzo journalism, all sorts of roots
music. All of that came through in Twang, from the very
non-traditional choice of covers to the somewhat demented
originals of Paul Strother. In the months that followed,
I saw dozens of wonderful gigs and heard a load of great
music. Twang helped me remember what a song can be: a
shared experience that takes the musician (and the
listener) on a journey for a few minutes. The fact that
they played more with each other than
to the audience actually drew me in all the
more. I always had a blast watching these guys, and I've
never watched a band who seemed to have more fun with
music.
- David
Ritchie, Worcester Phoenix music writer and host of
"Against the Grain," WICN-FM
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