Staring Into Headlights

Dark sounds for an old barn.

Written by our bass player, Ian Gorman. This is one of the only songs I'm singing on (I was in Palestine when most of the vocal parts were worked out). Ian originally did this for his solo album and we redid it. Mandoline player Nick is singing lead. The mind-bogglingly awesome Mike Shimmin sits in on drums.

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posted by Baby_Balrog (7 comments total)

oh, the a cappella section is stunning.
posted by man vs sun at 5:13 PM on July 7

the "i got an awful feeling that businessmen are soldiers in their dreams" line really struck me.
posted by Jon_Evil at 9:43 PM on July 7

I think what really sold it for me (the whole thing is fantastic, though) was the drumming. You don't get drumming in bluegrass very often, and the timbre of the drums fit so beautifully with the dark feel of the song. The individual parts are great, but the sum thereof is nothing short of extraordinary.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 10:21 PM on July 7

If we're gonna call this "bluegrass", it aint grandad's blugrass, but it sure kicks ASS!

I've never heard anything with any real newness that incorporates all of the elements of "old-timey" and "bluegrass" before this, that I've really cared about. So, this is a first for me!

So, do you guys ever play in any bluegrass festivals, or are you afraid of knocking the old timers ass over tea kettle?
posted by snsranch at 7:24 PM on July 8

Ooh... this is fabulous! My partner is across the room and said "This reminds me of that Country Death song by the Violent Femmes." I can hear what he means, but this is richer and deeper, to me...
posted by idest at 3:08 AM on July 9

snsranch we play a lot of the Michigan festivals - if you're around you should track us down sometime! :D
our shows are here: http://www.whohitjohn.com
posted by Baby_Balrog at 4:49 PM on July 9 [1 favorite has favorites]

The drums sound amazing. Great addition to a great band. This has a tint of O' Death to it, doesn't it?
posted by micayetoca at 4:51 AM on July 11