Double-couple bluegrass sass-back

12 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Americana, COUNTRY: Bluegrass

Details:
FINDERS AND YOUNGBERG
Keep Your Suitcase Packed
(Neighborly)

ALTHOUGH RELATIVELY rare, itâs always uplifting when a âmarriage of convenienceâ catches a spark and the synergy of well-matched souls yields a union in which the joyous, unexpected upside trumps the pairingâs predicted utility.
Thatâs not presuming to probe the private/personal relationships of couples Mike & Amy Finders or Aaron & Erin Youngberg, but rather to salute the serendipitous musical marriage of these two extraordinarily gifted couples that is consummated with this sizzling, endlessly-varied, organic wood-burner.
The Findersâ move from Galena, Illinois to Iowa City led to a decadeâs worth of exquisite pan-Americana explorations (both âliveâ and on disc).
Recent touring out west necessitated recruiting vocal and instrumental support for Amy (vocals, mandolin) and Mike (vocals, guitar and harmonica).
Colorado-based Erin (vocals, bass) and Aaron (masterful on banjo, pedal steel and recording gear) Youngberg not only filled the need, but the musical and interpersonal connection was such that Mike and Amy are relocating their family to join the Youngbergs in Fort Collins.
Keep Your Suitcase Packed is the first recording by this rustic quartet, presenting a dozen aural treatsâincluding nine gems penned by Mike Finders, a major-league, pan-genre tunesmith whoâs already a two-time winner at MerleFestâs prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (once in Country, once in Gospel).
For her part, Amy Finders boasts one of the most pneumatic, acrobatic and infinitely personal vocal deliveries in recent folk/bluegrass history.
Produced with a punch and transparent immediacy that effectively places the privileged listener smack-dab in the middle of an intimate, front-parlor guitar pull, the disc jumps out of the gate with âIowa Winter,â an easy-rolling confection with Amy and Erin evoking a Dolly/Emmylou hill-country confab.
Mikeâs retro/vintage âBall and Chain Bluesâ finds Mike & Amy trading punches in Jimmie Rodgersâ shadow with the sass of Geoff & Maria Muldaur, and then Amy and Erin chuck their menâs clothes out on the lawn on the kinetic âGo Ahead and Leave.â
Mike and Amy ghost Erinâs lovely, perfectly cold-blooded vocal on her self-penned, old school murder ballad, âOld Shine Crow.â
âSame Old Me, Same Old Youâ is one of several flat-out masterpieces on the disc. A deceptively simple melody and an exquisitely constructed lyric combine to mine the bittersweet truths of time-worn relationshipsâbut is it a concession/surrender or recognition of an inescapable, deep-rooted bond?
Yesâ¦
Erinâs second offering, âPerfect Little Lifeâ (co-written w/KC Groves), is a sprightly, whistle-in-the-graveyard skewering of dithering, âStepfordâ-esque conformity.
Mikeâs sublimely-sweet, humble âMoonlight on the Coloradoâ (âwe drank burnt coffee, we ate cashewsâ¦â) blends an early James Taylor delivery with a big sky Western approach thatâll melt the hardest of hearts, Amyâs hard-charging punch-out of Paul Kingâs âCold Hard Rainâ earns a TKO and, finally, Erin smokes Mikeâs coolwater, country-rock biscuit, âBushelbasket.â
Throughout, the songs and the vocals are so fine, so plugged-in that the meticulously-casual arrangements and top-tier, workmanlike musicianship (by all hands, but especially by MVP Aaron) tend to sneak up on you.
Most importantly, Keep Your Suitcase Packed is steeped in a visceral longingâa sexual tension, if you willâthat is all-too-often missing in the academic/Puritan presentations of American folk/bluegrass.
In the end, it all dovetails together like well-lubricated naughty-bits, extending and expanding the rhythm, tension and passion that have always made this planetâs âhuman beansâ turn, burn and step back up to do it all again.
--JIM MUSSER

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