I don't smoke.  But on my four mile trek from Oregon Hill to Shenanigan's, the old Camel slogan kept running through my head.  Of course, being a writer I had to revise it to fit my situation: 'I'd walk 4 miles for a bluegrass band.'  It's not quite as catchy, but it's very accurate.  I later found that my hike was completely unnecessary, as Andy Burns, the Slack Family's mandolin player, also lives in Oregon Hill, and was perfectly willing to give me a ride, a fact that I took advantage of on the way home.

The Slack Family Bluegrass Band has been around for about ten years.  Their website has an interesting tall tale of how they were discovered by revenuers somewhere in the mountains of Virginia, but I hardly see why that is necessary.  The real story is just as good.  The Slack Family began its life sometime around the turn of the century.  No one knows the exact date.  I doubt anyone really cares, and I know the band doesn't.  A couple of rock musicians, namely Joe Wharff and Andy Burns, decided they wanted to do something different.  So they got together with some other rock musicians who felt like changing things up and set out down the road to bluegrass.  This road was more of a back alley, literally.  Their first gigs were not gigs at all, but rather impromptu performances for bar-hopping Richmonders in the alleys of downtown and Shockoe slip.  They've come a long way since then, and are now playing rather less impromptu shows for bar-going Richmonders at a variety of local establishments as well as the occasional wedding.  I saw them at Shenanigan's where they've been playing the first Friday of every month since before it was Shenanigan's.  They like to say that they came with the building.

So what do they sound like?  The simplest way to answer that is to say bluegrass.  While I don't normally like to pigeonhole bands into one specific genre, these guys are just too quintessentially bluegrass to call them anything else.  From the mandolin riffs to the banjo and guitar picking to the driving standup bass and even what I like to call the high lonesome singing everything about them screams bluegrass.  Even their many original songs easily sound like they could be old Blue Grass Boys numbers.  And while they may not be as talented as the aforementioned Blue Grass Boys, they bring just as much energy and enthusiasm for the music.  This is definitely a band that is best enjoyed live.  They have such an infectious energy that even the most awkward of bar patrons, and some of them were about as awkward as you can get, couldn't help but get up and do a bit of dancing.

The only real problem I had with their performance was that the fiddle player. Jim Skelding, was unable to make it.  I seem to have that effect on fiddle players.  This was the third show that I've covered in as many months in which the regular fiddle player couldn't make it.  But despite this disappointing turn of events, all hope was not lost.  Filling in on guest guitar was Dave Kuo.  If you haven't heard this guy play, you need to do so as soon as possible.  He was fantastic.  I normally would pick hearing fiddle over guitar every time.  I do love fiddle music.  But this guy was something else.  I don't think he normally plays bluegrass, but Dave, if you're reading this, you need to go out and find you a bluegrass band to play with on a regular basis, I want to hear some more.  So I can't really complain about the fiddle player being absent, because it gave me a chance to hear a phenomenal bluegrass guitar flat-picker.

I guess I better quit extolling the quality of the guest musician and get back to reviewing the Slack Family.  I not only had a chance to see them live but also listened to their second CD: Picking Up the Slack.  Their recorded material, while still distinctly bluegrass in nature, is somewhat more varied.  Despite being an above average album, there is something about their live performance that just can't be captured in a recording.  It's that infectious energy that I mentioned earlier.  I'm not quite sure how, but I think some of their songs could even get a paraplegic dancing.  The CD has some very good music, some parts I would go so far as to call excellent, but it really is completely different from their live performance.  That's why you need to get up from that computer, get out there, and go see them.

The Slack Family Links:

SlackFamily.com

The Slack Family at CD Baby - You can buy their cd, Trains and Rain, here

By Editing Department, Regional Editor and Author: Robin Marschak

Robin Marschak was born and raised in Richmond, but has only recently moved back after two years in California.  He loves all types of music from Jimmy Rodgers to Daft Punk to Tower of Power and all things in between.  He is currently a student at VCU and living in Oregon Hill.  Some of his favorite artists include Old Crow Medicine Show, Mark Campbell, and Steve Earl.  Other than listening to music and writing, Robin's hobbies include eating, sleeping, and an occasional guilt induced fit of exercise.  You can follow his adventures in local music on Twitter @robinmarschak, or hear some of the non-local music that he enjoys at either last.fm/user/beerdo231 or blip.fm/beerdo.

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