Skip to main content

Whiterwater Ramble: All Night Drive


Words By J-man

"From the first few notes, I want to drop what I am doing and dance my ass off. I write a lot of reviews, but for some reason I have been feeling inadequate in my ability to really do this album justice. It's one of the must hear albums of 2010 and one of the best debut albums that I have heard in some time."

"All Night Drive" is the debut album from the Colorado based band Whitewater Ramble. The first thing that I noticed about this album was who the band turned to in regards to guests and production. Based on the instruments featured by WWR, one would immediately associate them with bluegrass/string music. Yet the guests on the album would lead the listener to associate WWR with the "Jamband" genre. Steve Molitz (Particle), Josh Clark (Tea Leaf Green), Pete Wall, and doubling as a guest and handling the production Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth), to name a few.

"Were there any survivors?" Was my initial thought.

Access to and utilization of musicians such as those listed above reflect a certain level of musicianship. Moreover it reflects a clear music direction... Jam. From the get go, WWR takes the opportunity to shine, with bright instrumentation, lyrics and variety. Songs like "Trouble", "Dead For Now" and "All Night Drive" fit very well in to the bluegrass/string genre, reflecting an almost String Cheese Incident/Railroad Earth influence. Tracks like "Pulled Pork", "Draw Strings" and "Riptide" lean more towards their rock influences. Then there are tracks like "Gypsy Funk" that offer a glimpse into the more "Dawg" style jazzgrass. In other words, All Night Drive offers something for everyone.

"Whitewater Ramble is next in line on the Colorado bluegrass scene."

Patrick Sites tears up the mandolin and electric mandolin with aggressive clarity and a rock approach. Adam Galblum displays a skillfully technical array of talent on the fiddle, that so often pulls the focus. Howard Montgomery's intense, driving, full sounding bass brings the groove heavy. Luke Emig's drumming is precise, danceable, and in perfect for what Whitewater does. Together, they create one of the most interesting and enjoyable mixes of genres that I have heard in some time.

All Night Drive is one of the best debut album's that I have heard from a band in a long time. It sucked me in from the beginning and left me wanting more. Yes, this album is worth purchasing without a second thought. However, the band is making it available for free on their website. Enjoy!

www.whitewaterramble.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Livetronica Sampler 3.22.11

Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. www.octopusnebula.com Big Gigantic Big...

Buckethead: Gimmick or Guitar God?

Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least ...

Billy Strings 4.18.19

Salvage Station Asheville, NC Words by Jason Mebane Photos by J. Scott Shrader Photography When asked to write a review of last week's Billy Strings show at Asheville, North Carolina's Salvage Station I almost passed on it. I just wrote a review of his last Asheville show a few months ago and I thought it may be hard to come up with another set of words to describe to the readers exactly what a Billy Strings show is all about. I am sure there are a plethora of other reviews that other people have written focusing on how well he has mastered his instrument. I suppose I could recycle those thoughts and just sit here typing out a few adjectives describing each note Billy and his superb backing band played this past Thursday night, but that wouldn't be fun for me. Additionally I'd imagine a review like that wouldn't keep your attention either. Instead I have decided to focus on a few random parts of the Billy Strings show that seemed interesting to me. One: B...