Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Down To The Stillhouse


















Took a break. We're back now. Lift yr glasses.

The New Lost City Ramblers were part of the big Folk Boom back in the late 50's into the early 60's. While most of that movement, musicians and audiences alike, was made up of white folks playing at authenticity through theft, The 'Ramblers approached the songs and subject matter of their performances and recordings with a reverence and playful spirit. Plenty of banjos, fiddles, kazoos, and whatnot, and an obvious appreciation for the Appalachian culture from which the majority of their material sprung from. They continue to tour sporadically, in various incarnations, to this day, and have served as an influence to much of the Backwoods revivalists we appreciate today.

For our purposes today, we want to take a look at our favorite album of theirs, "American Moonshine and Prohibition Songs". As you can surmise from the title, the record is comprised of drinking songs. Mostly in the moonshine whiskey and bootlegging vein, a fine topic we think. Loves us some moonshine. Every song on this album reels, jigs, and fiddles it's way through a boozy haze of law-breaking and bad behavior. Highly recommended for all you inebriates out there.

The following songs are best heard with a whiskey (preferably of the "homemade" kind) in yr claw.


The New Lost City Ramblers: Goodbye Old Booze (mp3)

The New Lost City Ramblers: The Old Home Brew (mp3)

The New Lost City Ramblers: Down To The Stillhouse To Get A Little Cider (mp3)


The New Lost City Ramblers: Kentucky Bootlegger (mp3)


Please support your local moonshiner and bootlegger. If you don't, who will?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great songs by a great band. Thanks for these!

Anonymous said...

I'm busily supporting my local moonshiner. I have two jars in the fridge.

Mark P said...

Down here in North Carolina, we're no strangers to good moonshine. Here's to those noble men and women who keep the tradition alive.

And kudos to any band with the good sense to toss in a timely kazoo solo.