THE TALLBOYS
Fresh Daily
The Tallboys

www.thetallboys.com
 

The Tallboys have long been the Northwest’s best-kept secret in old-time music. Pike Place buskers, community organizers, monthly square dance leaders, and genuinely nice folks, The Tallboys have come to epitomize Northwest old-time. They don’t tour outside of the area very much, so if you haven’t heard of them, that’s understandable. But get hip quick, son, because their new album, Fresh Daily, is crammed full of ass-blasting old-time tunes and songs! With fiddler Joe Fulton back at the helm, The Tallboys take off with the creepily named “The Last Shot Got Him” from the Mississippi Possum Hunters and “France Blues” from Papa Harvey Hall. Other great tunes are sourced from folks like Leake County Revelers, Dillard Chandler, Mississippi Sheiks, Fields Ward, and more. The Tallboys have gone collecting with an ear for that time when African-American “race” records were being cut right next to white “hillbilly” bands, then sent away to be sold to very different markets. The Tallboys combine these two streams the way they always were blended prior to the rise of the recording industry. If it seems strange to bounce between a jugband hokum song like Big Joe & His Washboard Band’s “If You Take Me Back” and the laid back old-timey fiddle tune “New Charleston #2” from Mississippi’s Narmour and Smith, that’s just the divide forced upon the music by the recording industry’s segregation (Narmour & Smith were white but learned from black musicians). These black and white traditions were always meant to go together and it’s good to have them back today. Another rarity to the Tallboys’ repertoire that other old-time bands would do well to watch is their use of Midwest old-time music. Joe comes from out back that way and learned from the music of folks like Dwight Lamb, a Danish folk musician with a deeply compelling Missouri repertoire, or Nebraskan fiddler Bob Walters, or even Indiana fiddle hero Garry Harrison. None of these tunes sound out of place with Appalachian old-time tunes, and Joe’s been using sources like these to bring an edge to his tune repertoire for years without folks catching on! Hot tip, folks–look to the West of Appalachia for new old-time tunes!

The heart of the Tallboys returns with this album to the intricate picking of banjo player Charlie Beck and the wild fiddling of Joe Fulton, but each player has their own set of powers here. Charmaine Slaven’s bright, brittle vocals lead off some great twangy numbers, and her flatfooting is always delightful. Fiddler and singer WB Reid joins as well, and his wide knowledge of country blues fiddling and crazy old songs is a grand thing. Bassist John Hurd pipes up on accordion as well when he’s not expertly driving the beat. Both Joe and Charlie trade songs, Joe with a rougher, twangier voice, and Charlie with his street blues-shouter singing style born from years on the sidewalks of Pike Place Market in Seattle. The core of The Tallboys’ music has always been their serious chops as street performers, but with this new album they prove that they’re also one of the best young old-time stringbands out there, both in their use of new repertoire and their driving musicianship.

— Devon Leger