The Red Mountain White Trash is a traditional band with a decidedly untraditional name. But don’t let the moniker put you off. This outfit plays old-time fiddle-based dance music with roots deep in the rich Southern soil.
The Birmingham septet produces a dense, pulsating brand of music, with most of the tunes culled from recordings of the 1920s and 1930s. Out front on nearly all the tunes are the two fiddles of Ed Baggott and Jim Cauthen. They’re joined on the lead at various times by mandolin, harmonica and banjo uke, while the rhythm is set by bass, guitar and autoharp. It’s an untraditional mix of instruments, but I bet it’s an absolute joy to dance to. It’s pretty fun to listen to as well.
The Trash has packed about as much music as possible — 73 minutes worth — onto this, their second CD. Their first, 1995’s Fire in the Dumpster, is still in print. The 22 tracks here include several two-song medleys, including the very strong “Gideon/Echoes of the Ozarks,” “Doughboy Rag/Lonesome Blues,” and the delightful final track, “Spootiskerry Reel/Dusty Miller,” the former a Shetland fiddle tune, the latter an Eck Robertson tune.
“Jump in the Well Pretty Little Miss/Greasy Coat” is another memorable number, particularly the second tune, which features some hot bluesy harmonica work from Jamie Finley.
Of the stand-alone tunes, the opening track, “Step Around, Johnny” is quite good, as is the delightful contemporary waltz, “Bruce’s Return.” There are a couple of other waltzes among the tracks, both nice pieces, although Finley’s harmonica on “Don’t You Remember the Time” is distracting.
The disc also includes five songs, most sung by guitarist Joyce Cauthen and guest vocalist Carole Griffin. They’re nice songs all, particularly the Carter Family’s “Dixie Darling” and the decidedly odd “Adieu, False Heart,” which has a lurching melody line accentuated by the bowed bass. Two of the other songs — “Singing My Troubles Away” and “Brown’s Ferry Blues,” are from the Delmore Brothers, featuring Bill Martin on the former, and Jim and Joyce Cauthen on the latter. The songs are the weakest tracks on the record. All of the singers have pleasant voices but none is a particularly strong vocalist, or at least none is placed forward in the mix, so the delivery seems tentative.
Throughout, the instrumental work is consistently good. This is pre-bluegrass, old-time string music, which tends to emphasize ensemble playing rather than flashy solos and breaks. But I found myself wishing that one of the players would step up and cut loose occasionally. As it is, nothing really stands out, with the exception of Baggott’s exceptional unaccompanied playing on “Bluegrass Meadows/Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom.” The record could use a few more similar pieces for variety.
But overall, Chickens is a fine recording of great old tunes by a big band that’s in it solely for love of the music.
Editors Note: Seventeen years on, the band is still active though they are now just Red Mountain.
(Whoop It Up, 1999)
