With a line-up that features guitars, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, dobro, stand-up bass and drums, it wouldn’t take a genius to work out on paper that this Sligo six-piece trade in a rootsy blend of country, bluegrass, Cajun, folk and generally good-time music.
Recorded and mastered in Nashville – the spiritual home of the genre – their debut offers a set of rollicking tunes guaranteed to have toes tapping and hearts pumping within seconds of exposure. It’s all brilliantly executed and deftly performed with an authenticity that wouldn’t sound out of place on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry and judging by some of the pics on their website, it looks like they’ve graced that hallowed venue already!
The tunes are strong too: ‘Bright Lights’ boasts a catchy melody and ‘Angela’ has a compelling storyline, while there’s humour aplenty in ‘Me And A Polar Bear’ and ‘Another Dirty Joke’. The ballad ‘Sailing Song’ is on a par with anything that similarly-inclined US outfits such as Chatam County Line or Nickel Creek might put out, while ‘Lorraine’ and ‘Calico Sky’ channel the spirit of The Band’s Music From Big Pink. No wonder Rackhouse Pilfer are fast becoming festival favourites – they appeared with Imelda May at Sligo Live last year, and no less a personage than Michael D himself has asked them to perform at this year’s summer garden party at the Áras. Love And Havoc will find considerable favour with roots enthusiasts.