The
Hunger Mountain Boys | Live & Early Studio Duets
Old-Fi Records
Reviewed
by Peter Aaron
Last
year, Great Barrington, Massachusetts’ hot
old-time/bluegrass duo The Hunger Mountain
Boys (singer/guitarist Teddy Weber and singer/
mandolinist/guitarist/fiddler Kip Beacco)
expanded their ranks, adding bassist Matt
Downing and releasing the suitably titled Three
(Old-Fi Records). This disc tells the story up to
then, boasting rare and live tracks and cherrypicking
others from the group’s first two albums,
2003’s Fashioned in The Old Way and 2004’s
Blue Ribbon Waltz (both on Old-Fi but
now out of print).
While the studio performances will put
any lover of acoustic Americana in pure
country heaven, it’s on the cuts taped
at festivals and radio sessions that the
duo really burns. Sprints through the
traditional “Have a Feast Here Tonight”
and Blue Ribbon Waltz’s “Going Back
Where Time Stands Still,” both from
a 2006 date in Berkeley, California,
explode with Beacco’s babbling-brook
mandolin runs, Weber’s fleet flat picking,
and the pair’s skyrocketing harmonies.
Fans will revel in curios like “Barrett Press,”
a
jingle for the band’s printer done in the style of
an early radio commercial, and the live version
of Nash-trash critique “Nashville Don’t Touch
My Country Music,” a song previously only
available on 7” vinyl.
Although its lineup has seen further flux this year
(ex-Crooked Jades member Adam Tanner has
stepped in for Beacco, who’s taking time off to
raise a family; Weber and Downing also perform
with The Blue Ribbon Boys), the group’s busy
touring schedule hasn’t much relented. Short
of catching The Hunger Mountain Boys on one
of those tour stops, this CD is the best way to
make their acquaintance
www.hungermountainboys.com
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