Starlings, TN – Between Hell And Baton Rouge
String-band music has transformative power.
Though they began as punk rockers, Starlings TN found artistic fulfillment by tapping into the true world-on-a-string. Like the Gourds, Starlings TN emerged from Louisiana’s rich sonic gumbo with acoustic guitars. But where the Gourds found a setting for their string-band fantasies in Doug Sahm’s Texas roadhouse, Starlings TN touched down atop David Schnaufer’s Tennessee mountain dulcimer collection.
Dulcimers — bowed or plucked, acoustic or electric — shape the soundscape of Between Hell And Baton Rouge. On their second album, Steve Stubblefield and Tim Bryan prove as adept at songcraft as they are at chilling atmospherics. Stubblefield’s originals prove as varied as they are addictive, from the opening “Tramps Rouge” (which sets the memory of an alcohol haunted journey in spirited motion), to the full-tilt razor dance of “Corbitt Up The Mountain”, to the desperate poignancy of “The Cumberland”.
The traditional songs fit in seamlessly. At first, “Wayfaring Stranger” almost seems beyond Stubblefield’s vocal range. But singing a traditional ballad is not a sprint. This version builds in power and nuance as its story unfolds naturally, from the heart.
Throughout, the vocals, and Bryan’s haunting bowed embellishments, display a mastery beyond mere craft. Even the cleverly dubbed “Villager Tavernacle Choir” brings ramshackle beauty to the incantatory “Going back to Louisiana,” which concludes the album’s harrowing trip. Along string-band music’s journey “back to the future”, Starlings TN make ideal tour guides.