SHOW REVIEW 7/10/09

INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS 7/10/09 Santa Fe Brewing Company, Santa Fe, NM

I don’t know how they do it, but they seem to get better every time. This is a band at the height of their magical powers. See them now!

Surprises/highlights:

“High on a Mountaintop,” an old Del McCoury tune they’ve added to their sets. They may well have sacrificed small animals to elder gods to obtain this dark, swampy arrangement. Bluegrass meets Metallica by way of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Haunting and brilliant.

“End of the Line” could be one of those songs music historians look back on 20 years from now and say, “Right there, that’s where the whole thing started to take off.” Though it hails from Jeremy Garrett’s solo disc, “I Am a Stranger,” this tune really comes alive when the whole Stringdusters combo lays into it. Instantly memorable.

“In God’s Country” – yes, the U2 song off “The Joshua Tree,” though you’d barely recognize it. The Stringdusters have made this one their own by re-arranging it into what they’re best at: psychedelic bluegrass. I hope they keep it in their repertoire, because I can’t wait to hear what it morphs into.

“Get It While You Can” just keeps getting funkier. I thought the last time I heard them do this was just a fluke, but they actually seem intent on trailblazing the new hybrid of bluegrass-funk. More power to them.

If you’ve ever wondered where the next Johnny Cash might be coming from, check out Jeremy Garrett on “Tragic Life.” Originally from the Stringdusters’ first album, “Fork in the Road,” this tune about infidelity and murder has become a sprawling, dusty, bloody epic. Worthy of the label “outlaw country.”

Every single one of these musicians managed to amaze me at one point or another during the show. Jesse Cobb was the first – pushing his mandolin to the extreme on several of the opening numbers. Though I love bluegrass, I’ve never been particularly fond of the mandolin. I always felt its sound was too wispy to really get down and dirty, but Cobb proved me wrong.

Andy Falco did the acoustic guitar proud, picking faster than my eyes could follow at times. Could it be they were just trying to outdo each other, tag-teaming our eardrums? One Stringduster would blow the top of my head off, only to have another step in with their musical pastry torch and caramelize my brain like a crème brulee.

I can’t believe the punishment Andy Hall was dishing out to his dobro, particularly during the one-two punch of “Deep Elem Blues” and “Black Rock.” I love the sound of a dobro, but have never seen one played so insistently; the kind of pummeling you might resort to when you realize your bed partner enjoys things a little rougher than most.

And Travis Book on the upright bass – I’ve never known how one mere mortal can rock that instrument. It seems so huge, like one of those insanely oversized motorcycles you could practically live in. Someone driving an upright bass down the freeway I could believe. They’re tanks. Book holds down the groove, jams, sings, and somehow makes it look effortless.

As usual, banjo picker Chris Pandolfi was the last to join the fun. Maybe it just takes him a while to get into it, or maybe the banjo is just that hard to play, I don’t know, but he always seems to be kind of holding back until the very end. Man, when he finally lets loose though, it is truly amazing to behold.

At one point in the show, my friend, Darla, commented that Jeremy Garrett plays the fiddle with his whole body. I had just noticed him writhing and slithering through one of his numbers, possibly the aforementioned “Tragic Life.” I had to agree that Garrett seemed to be leeching energy from the earth, up through his feet, stirring it up through his knees and waist, and finally, blasting it straight through his arms to the fiddle, setting it ablaze with psychic fire.

Actually, in the end, I think the band had set us all ablaze with psychic fire.

The Infamous Stringdusters are the most amazing and honest acoustic combo out there right now. If you are not ready for the next level of bluegrass, best you just stay home and leave more room for me and mine to shimmy.

~ Chris Diestler, AKA “TOAST”

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