One Riot One Ranger – Faces Made For Radio

Their name implies something far more anarchic than their music, a graceful, restrained blend of bluegrass, old-timey and cowboy styles. One Riot One Ranger is a band in love with tight, complementary playing, the languid melodies of the range and the harmony of four strong voices. Leads swap from song to song, so the vocal dynamics find quite a spectrum from the gospel honey of River of Salvation to the rowdiness of Tennessee Coot and no two arrangements (though theyre always acoustic) are quite the same.

This savory disc reminds me of pre-Depression wire recordings, and though some of the leads are a bit buried especially the guitar and Pete Remenyis dobro, though when up front, his melodies are lovely the production is apt, even classic in its simplicity. These five Ohioans might call themselves faux cowboys, but their music isnt, as their skill with covers shows: Tennessee Coot, Drifting Texas Sand, and the Delmores Blues Stay Away From Me, featuring fiddle, accordion, and harmonica. The CD closes with a surprise: Pere Ubus Cloud 149.

The originals refresh traditional themes and images, within musical structures that are never perfunctory. Adios My Amigo has a dreamy melody, and Mark Gaskills voice is strong and deep. The Devils Waltz and Yes Man are funny without being cliched or silly. Chas Williams prettiest original, Cowboy Lullaby, recalls a granddads career on the range that became blacktop and storefronts and a pickup or two and then, Hes gone, like the old cowboy songs. Of course, its not quite true, as these 12 songs testify.

As important as it is to explore the Monroes and Stanleys of American music, its just as important to hear old-time and bluegrass not as artifacts, but as living and rewarding forms of our present culture. Countless musicians, young and old, legendary and little-known, play the music as the serious and pleasurable art it remains. Tradition, as One Riot One Ranger shows, aint history.