I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to review this EP. Perhaps it's the fact that I liked it so much straight away. There's a possibility that I was waiting for it to wear out on me. Well, it hasn't done anything of the sort.
Garrett Durant's cover art grabbed me straight away and as soon as I started spinning the CD in my car I was hooked. 'Meet me where the crow don't fly' opens the EP. It has a lazy blue grassy feel that sort of sucks you in. What with its banjo pickin' and upright bass boom you can't help but be won over. Vocally the song gives us a great introduction to where the WTBBs are going to take us.
Moving on then to 'Walkin' down the road' we're sort of running down the road! With the fast tempo, high strung mandolins, banjos, blues harp and again, thump of the upright bass, this stuff just gets under your skin. I'm surprised I have not seen these guys on a double bill with Old Crow Medicine show in Dublin.
If vocal harmony is your thing like me, then 'Pilgrim song' is your song. The two and three part harmonies and resonator backing are dead on.
Track four 'Easy Way Out', is not as well written as the first three songs and the appearance of drums disappointed me (as they're not needed on a blue grass release). However I suspect it's a good, up tempo, show opener. And closing with the intimate and delicate 'R Song' is a good move.
These guys are tight. It's a good thing when an EP makes you want to find out everything you possibly can about a band.
I was longing for a new Gillian Welch record this year and even though it has now arrived, I feel like this EP is a more exciting prospect.
So from the Water Tower Bucket Boys - Josh Rabie, Kenny Feinstein, Cory Goldman & Kyle McGonegle we ask 'More Soon Please!' Buy the EP at: http://www.watertowerbucketboys.com/music.html
By James Cooper.