Dry Branch Fire Squad - Live! at Last

Title: Live! at Last Artist: Dry Branch Fire Squad Release Date: 10/8/1996 Re-Released On: 10/1/1996 Label: Rounder Duration: 124:50 Album Type(s): live UPCs: 011661033924, 011661033948 Genre: Country Styles: Progressive Bluegrass, Traditional Bluegrass, Old-Timey, Bluegrass, String Bands, Contemporary Bluegrass, Appalachian, North American Traditions Moods: Bright, Earthy, Freewheeling, Organic, Complex, Passionate, Plaintive, Dramatic, Earnest, Wistful, Yearning, Amiable/Good-Natured, Rousing, Boisterous, Intimate Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 2 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Late Last Night
2. True Historia
3. Aragon Mill
4. Economical Talk
5. John Henry
6. A Pitiful Thing
7. The Cowboy Song
8. Housework Is My Life
9. Red Rocking Chair
10. Cultural Exchange
11. Someone Play Dixie for Me
12. Hambone/Balo's Song
13. Testosterone Poisoning
14. Midnight on the Stormy Deep
15. Banjo Jokes/Decorator Blocks
16. Bluegrass Breakdown
17. Band Introductions
18. World's Greatest Folk Singer
19. Hard Times (Come Again No More)
20. Goin' up on the Mountain
21. Walk the Streets of Glory

Year Type Label Catalog # 1996 CD Rounder 339

No other editions were found for this album.

It's worth pointing out that while many bluegrass bands become more modern and forward-looking as they continue along their career paths, experimenting with Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton songs or throwing in the odd pedal steel guitar, the Dry Branch Fire Squad has, if anything, drifted back in the other direction. There are several bluegrass standards ("Late Last Night," "Bluegrass Breakdown," "John Henry") on this live album, but the program ranges widely and tends to look more backward than forward. A cowboy song rubs shoulders with the old-timey "Red Rocking Chair" (sung and played on clawhammer banjo by Suzanne Thomas); Stephen Foster's "Hard Times" is followed by a pair of traditional gospel numbers. What all of this adds up to is the fact that the Dry Branch Fire Squad isn't really a bluegrass band, and hasn't been for some years -- the group is sort of a tour-bus version of the Smithsonian Institution, lovingly displaying a rotating exhibit of traditional mountain music. What makes this album particularly special is the fact that it allows those who have never experienced one of the band's live performances to hear bandleader Ron Thomason expound at hilarious length in his exaggerated hillbilly accent about North-South culture clashes, the War on Poverty, and the finer points of knife fighting. His bad puns ("J.D. Crowe Magnon," indeed) and slyly left-of-center social commentary are at least as much fun as the music. Highly recommended, and not just to bluegrass fans. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide

Name Credits Bill Evans Mixing, Banjo, Bass, Baritone (Vocal) Charles K. Wolfe Liner Notes Charles Leet Bass (Vocal), Bass (Acoustic) Dr. Toby Mountain Mastering Dry Branch Fire Squad Producer Eric Kilburn Engineer Huck Bennert Engineer Irene Young Photography Ken Irwin Producer Mary Jo Leet Tenor (Vocal), Bass (Vocal), Baritone (Vocal), Guitar Nancy Given Design Ron Thomason Mandolin, Vocals, Guitar, Liner Notes Stephen Chandler Mixing Steve Chandler Mixing Suzanne Thomas Tenor (Vocal), Vocals, Guitar, Claw Hammer Banjo, Banjo