The Gilded Bats
The debut disc on artist/engineer/producer Patrick Bloom's new label, "The Gilded Bats" showcases a muscular, energetic old-time stringband that's steadily been expanding its profile in Eastern Iowa.
Composed of Norbert Sarsfield (fiddle), Andrew Epstein (banjo, jaw harp), Billy Bryant (guitar) and Chris Clark (washtub bass), The Gilded Bats apply their kinetic pickin' to an endearing set of 16 evergreens culled from the hill-country canon -- and everybody sings with gusto.
Befitting a band whose moniker was cribbed from the title of a 1966 novel by eccentric Gothic marvel Edward Gorey, the songs' subjects tend to be at least a tad bit twisted, as in the Holy Modal Rounders' "Give the Fiddler a Dram" -- "Pretty little girl with a red dress on/She took it off/I put it on/In come Johnny with the big boots on ..."
Funded in part by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council, "The Gilded Bats" is crisply played and sung, and the disc is brilliantly recorded and mastered (kudos to Justin Kennedy and Bloom), resulting in a freshly-packed barn dance that's ready to go.
... thanks Jim. We think that it's pretty swell too.
There's some sort of unusual hold up going on over at CD Baby, hence the dramatically long wait for the album to go online. They're great folks and they're working on it, so keep the faith, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment