Fusing Traditional and Progressive Approach to Bluegrass Music

First song from The Railsplitters’ new CD “The Faster It Goes,”  is like a tall, cold glass of iced tea with lemon on a blistering humid summer day. In a word, “refreshing.”  Lead female vocalist Lauren Stovall possesses a warm, powerful and confident vocal. Crystal clear and enthusiastic. Perhaps, she sings with a smile on her face, because she sounds happy and her sound is displayed that way through the speakers. “Tilt-a-Whirl,” and “Salt Salt Sea,” are filled with well-recorded banjos, fiddles, bass, and mandolin. Balanced to the point where a listener can hear every note distinctly without interfering with the lyrics. “Salt Salt Sea”  is especially nice because of the the vocalizing manner Lauren projects. The pronunciation of words, the inflection, and tone virtually takes a very traditional yet, progressive approach to bluegrass music in an ingeniously modern presentation.

What do I mean? There is no reason a young listener — who likes country, alt-country, folk, or roots music — couldn’t get into this bluegrass vibe. The Railsplitters make it all listenable and they do it in an enjoyable way.

“It’s a Little Late,” features mandolin and the picking is delicate with a generous amount of notes unleashed with tight, melodic accuracy. The fiddle sound is full, dense and the notes are spill like mercury on a flat table. There is nothing sloppy about this band. Lauren’s high notes are creamy and smooth on this track and the back up vocal support is superb as it adds precise excitement to the tune.

Lauren sings every song in this collection with its own nuance and clarity. Proof-positive that these musicians have thought out their arrangements carefully and aren’t just shooting from the hip.

With “You,” there is beautifully deep bellowing stand up cello-like bass played with a bow by Leslie Ziegler. Adding to its color are sharp contrasting notes on fiddle and mandolin. Tight picking and it all oozes with fast acoustic strums that adds to its invigorating layers of melody. Lauren’s vocals ride the waves brilliantly like a surfer in the vast pipeline of a big Hawaiian wave. At times, her near-yodel-like vocal glides from high to low and it’s splendid. She creates her own tantalizing drama with this band of five. All this with no drums, but somehow the acoustic instruments provide their own acoustic beat. It’s one of the few bands I ever heard that doesn’t need a percussionist to give their songs the allusion of a big beat. The back-up vocals continue to glow like cinders in a hotly performed piece. This rocks.

Sample of official video below.

“The Estuary,”  begins with agile acoustics that slowly build like a summer drizzle that eventually falls a little faster, a little warmer, then colder, and with that fresh after the rain scent. My mind was filled with a meadow of flowers in a fine mist and then the flowers open with their beautiful colors – this is how the instrumental is performed in my mind’s eye. Another listener’s mind may play it differently but this instrumental will provide pictures with its notes. 

Lauren again sings with vibrant instrumentation on the tune “Planted On the Ground,”  that features a warm brief male vocal twice and as good as it sounds – when Lauren returns and the fiddle stacks its numerous notes the song really begins to ignite. This band is so good at piling up its precise instrumental sound in places at just the right time it’s like watching a painter make a few strokes on canvass and suddenly there’s a mountain, or the sea – from a brush. Just a brush. They accentuate their melody with equal magic — and with traditional respect. A very nice weaving of two contrasting vocals.

“Met That Day,”  is another example of well-thought out inter-playing. Nothing intrudes, everything is where it belongs and it all fits like an intricate puzzle. Instead of playing the basic melody of the song each soloist adds their own musical personality. This guarantees no boredom in listening to a Railsplitters song as it unfolds like the opening of a spring flower. Even when they simply strum their acoustic guitars it’s perfectly musical and it encircles your ears with attractive rhythms.  

“Goosetown,”  is another instrumental and here, I guess because of the title, it reminds me a little of Goose Creek Symphony – a legendary 70’s band that still plays today with similar power and excitement. I could be wrong, but because my ears have heard so much classic Goose Creek Symphony – the “sound” just leapt out at me. If The Railsplitters ever wanted to play with another band – Goose Creek would be the group. They would suit each other perfectly. Fine playing on this track – every musician shines brilliantly. This could be one of their show-stopping songs. It just never lets up – pure roots fire. The band sounds much larger than they actually are and I found that impressive.

With “Tell Me,” Lauren and the band sound more like they could have been recording back in the sixties. As retro sounding as this tune is, in its simplicity and it’s nostalgic flavor, Lauren sings with genuine sincerity and proves again that if performed with the right touch of grace an old style can be revived into a poignant and delicious song. There are shades of Brenda Lee, tone similar to Skeeter Davis (“The End of the World”), energy and commercial viability like Diane Renay (“Navy Blue”), and Sandy Posey’s “countrypolitan” “Single Girl,” & “I Take It Back.”  Are those songs bluegrass — no, they are not. Could they be re-arranged to fit that genre? Possibly. These women were incredible vocalists with infectious melodies. “Tell Me,”  is worthy of this genre as well.

The next song is about as close to a country-rock as I have heard on this collection. This has some wonderful, imaginative passages. “Danger,”  is not overwhelming but it’s stitched with rich performances. Lauren sings over a chugging railroad train rhythm at times and her sudden leaps from deep voice to high notes is commendable. When Lauren doesn’t sing the band is blistering in its own spotlight.

“Seasons,”  calms everything down and sounds like an excellent closing number to any show. It’s reflective, dynamic in a pensive way and it also has a little retro to it. Older listeners will smile – younger listeners will find their bodies swaying and not know why. This is Americana symphony style music. The instruments entwine like the intricacies of a symphony orchestra, they play with each other and counter-play, there are counter-melodies that surface and dissipate. Lauren sings in a restrained manner but before the song concludes she lets loose for a moment in a touching, culminating strength that puts a little bite into the song.

This is quite an accomplished band of  musicians and there’s a hidden bonus track. Track 12 after a few seconds of silence suddenly starts with a male / female vocal. In true rocky grass style as one PR sheet described them — “Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes,”  blasts off like a rocket with streaming colors. The male vocal is filled with old world character and it’s what made this music so popular in another time. Maybe The Railsplitters will make it popular again….this time. There are, after all, new ears out there who are hearing this kind of music for the first time. 

It all sounds certainly deserving and it would have been easy for me to suggest that this band should never lose their lead vocalist Lauren Stovall. But, after listening to this collection closely more than twice, this band is a cohesive unit. It’s such a well-rehearsed group of first rate musicians that I believe these five should never allow anyone to even go for a cup of coffee alone.

The sound is unifying to my ears and it’s a contribution made by all. From what I have seen on video — they sound exceptional live as well. This will make elderly people want to dance. I must add, these young people know their bluegrass. If they gave degrees in this genre, they must all have Master Degrees. And Bill Monroe must be somewhere — smiling.   

The Railsplitters are: Christine King – Fiddle and vocals // Dusty Rider – Banjo and vocals // Peter Sharpe – mandolin and vocals // Lauren Stovall – Guitar and vocals // Leslie Ziegler – Bass and vocals

Produced by The Railsplitters with consultant Gabe Witcher in Denver, CO

All songs written by various members of the band except for the bonus track “Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes,”  by Don Helms and Merle Taylor

The CD package is a beautiful colorful 6 panel die-cut package with color pictures of the band on the inner sleeve and back panel. There is no stitched lyric book unfortunately. Maybe next time. 

Photography: Group Picture: Kyle Ussery // Other photography by Emily Sierra

Website:  http://www.therailsplitters.com/

FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/therailsplittersbluegrass

Bandcamp: http://therailsplitters.bandcamp.com/

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this review / commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of No Depression. All photography is owned by the respective photographers and is their copyrighted image; credited where photographer’s name was known & being used here solely as reference and will be removed on request.

John Apice / No Depression / September 2015