The Infamous Stringdusters
Let it Go
(High Country/Thirty Tigers)
3.5 out of 5 stars
This Nashville quintet has made it a habit of pushing outside its bluegrass roots by, among other things, hiring a hip-hop producer to work on their last album, sporadically embellishing their sound with non-string instruments such as organ and rearranging rock songs from U2 and the Police to make them more, well rootsy. They retreat somewhat on those impulses for this, the band’s fifth studio release.
The quintet holed up in a studio on a rustic farm in Charlottesville, Virginia, self-producing the disc, writing or co-writing all 11 tracks and keeping the playing to their own five string pieces of upright bass, banjo, fiddle, guitar and dobro. The resulting music is expectedly earthy and organic but the lovely multi-part harmonies, the high quality of the songwriting and arrangements that reflect moods shifting from frisky or introspective depending on the lyrics, keep the tunes from falling explicitly into a country, folk, gospel, pop or bluegrass genre. Rather most borrow from all of these, creating an Americana gumbo with plenty of spice. The production and mixing is basic but crisp and alive, giving this the feel of a live to tape recording. Standouts include “Winds of Change” where fiddler Jeremy Garrett duets with himself by way of creative overdubbing and dobro player Andy Hall, who penned the tune, shows off his stuff. The driving “Light & Love” seems like it would make a killer rocker in the hands of an outfit who wouldn’t mind plugging in and amplifying their attack. The closing title track strips the approach down to just guitar, some violin and full bodied vocal harmonies straight out of church. Best of all, this is a group that really seems to love what they do. You can practically see their smiles emerging through the speakers.
While some may have wanted the Stringdusters to continue pushing past their bluegrass roots, Let it Go shows they don’t need to mess with a sound that still has plenty of room to explore fresh instrumental nuances and inventive songwriting within a traditionalist format.