Split Lip Rayfield – Self-Titled

Although the closing track, “Tiger in My Tank”, includes a few bars of “Dueling Banjos”, there’s not much about Split Lip Rayfield’s debut that one normally associates with traditional bluegrass. The Wichita trio’s name, lyrics and instrumentation all push the envelope of the genre.

Former Scroat Belly members Kirk Rundstrom (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Eric Mardis (banjo, vocals) are joined by Jeff Eaton, who also sings and plays an instrument listed in the credits as a “tank fiddle.” This homemade bass has a wooden neck, a single nylon string, and a body made from a truck’s gas tank. Despite its peculiar construction, this “bass-enstein” creates an intriguing, deep sound that lays the percussive foundation for Rundstrom and Mardis’ lightning-fast picking.

And there’s plenty of that rapid-fire strumming, since almost all the songs on this 34-minute disc are uptempo hoedowns. Highlights include the wonderful, melodic “Combine” and the herky-jerky “Cutie Pie”. The former contains a couple of lines that are representative of the band’s rock ‘n’ roll lyrics: “(Gonna) find me a girl who can’t shoot straight/ I’m gonna piss her daddy off when I take his daughter home late.”

The album’s slowest number, “Pinball Machine”, is also the least successful, primarily because these fellers don’t have the vocal prowess to pull off a song at such a crawling tempo. But that’s not what this music is all about. Split Lip Rayfield races through the desolate fields of the Bad Livers instead of roaming the beautiful green hills of, say, Tim O’Brien.