Search - The Raisin Pickers :: Drivin'

Followers of the band will be delighted to hear "Which Way's The Wind Blowin", a long-time live favorite, open proceedings. Mosher's spirited vocal delivery of this tale of a traveling man is matched by some hot breaks on mandolin, guitar and banjo, and so the direction of the album is pointed. Then two equally impressive originals by Mark Palms follow soon after, the jazzy "Bourbon Street" and the touching narrative ballad "Shiloh's Hill", a tale from the Civil War. While back on a flying visit from New Zealand, James Sneyd (former fiddler) found time to take lead vocal honors on Eric Bogle's "Nobody's Moggy Now". Sneyd was always a larger than life stage presence and few could match his delivery of this hilariously stomach-churning ode to a squashed cat. Mosher's vocals are back to the fore again on the hard-driving, bluegrassy "Gonna Row My Boat", turning in a blinding guitar break for good measure.When they're not writing, they have a talent for choosing some catchy and memorable songs, "The Lady From 29 Palms" and "I'm Helpless". Both enjoy an appropriately whimsical delivery from Carol Palms, the latter with some inventive studio touches as the sound "emerges" from a scratchy old 78. So just as I listened to this CD for the first time and track 12 died away leaving me with a big smile on my face, I realized there was the small matter of the album's title track remaining. "Drivin'" turned out to be a song I had to play again and again, a brilliantly comic, autobiographical three-way dialogue of exactly what it's like getting a band to a gig. This studio album captures brilliantly the musicality, the eclecticism and the sheer fun of a Raisin Picker show!