Search - Moonshine Willy :: Bold Displays of Imperfection

Stage diving off the homestead porch with Chicago's finest

11/13/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bluegrass is often, quite rightly, maligned as formulated and rigid as any Nashville country sound. I'll always associate Bluegrass with half a dozen good ol' boys dressed in identical, crisp blue suits and ten-gallon cowboy hats playing "Cripple Creek" like robots on speed. It lacks the tough attitude of alternative-country and the authentic individualism of old-timey.Moonshine Willy play a strange hybrid of bluegrass, honky tonk and folk. It's much more spirited and melodic than bluegrass though. Moonshine Willy breaks through the corny, sentimentalism of bluegrass lyrics, and lets the banjo, fiddle and bass talk rather than chatter like a machine gun. They prove what bluegrass is capable of.Take a listen to three of the track's finest cuts - Message From The Grave; Funny Things and Brady's Leap. The 14 tracks are diverse, but these three are fundamentally bluegrass/honky tonk. They speed along with toe-tapping intensity, but are reigned in before they lose their melody - the honky tonk guitar on Funny Things and Rachel Ferro's mandolin and fiddle on Brady's Leap are particularly good. Try not throwing yourself around the room after repeated listens.It's on these songs that Kim Docter's lyrics shine. The band is from Chicago, so the lyrics on dark Deliverance-inspired death songs like "River" seem to glorify southern stereotypes of the worst kind. Personal storytelling is what Kim does best, as the story of a Vietnam veteran pining after his Saigon girl in "Message from the Grave" shows her strengths as a lyricist best.Other highlights are the waltz "Gone Far Away" and Kim's yodelling on "Glorybone". It's hard to fit Moonshine Willy into a country music genre. Not pure enough for bluegrass, not tough enough for alt.country. They kick butt, but in a"

On second thoughts...

Ryan McNabb | 12/10/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nah, 4 stars ain't enough. 8 months after buying this CD I still listen to it avidly. Funny Thing is in my top 10 best ever song list. Brilliant."