Rural Pennsylvania is better known for its “Pennsylvania Dutch” communities than its country singers, but Frog Holler seems determined to change that. This alt-country outfit, who style themselves the eponymous Idiots of this CD, are the type of young rowdy misfits who spend too much time “smokin’, cheatin’, fightin’, drinkin’ beer” in the words of “Choose a Path,” one of the more energetic tracks on their sophomore effort for Record Cellar.
Frog Holler is a subtly powerful country-rock outfit, rootsy and earthy, by turns angst-laden and exuberantly playful, as befits a bunch of healthy 30-something American males. The sextet churns out some listenable and at times clever songs in the mold of Missouri’s Son Volt and Bottle Rockets. That they don’t quite yet rise to the level of either of those two alt-country standard-bearers isn’t for lack of trying. Frontman and lead vocalist Darren Schlappich is honing his songwriting chops, and on this outing displays more variety and relies less on volume and distorted guitars than on the debut Adams Hotel Road.
Oddly enough, one of the better tracks is the opener, “Adams Hotel Road,” a lyrical ode to small-town life, which is a common theme on Idiots. The down-home sound of Schlappich’s acoustic guitar, Mike Lavdanski’s banjo and Ted Fenstermacher’s fiddle set the mood for much of the record. Todd Bartolo chimes in with some tasteful lap-steel contributions on several numbers, and John Kilgore shows he can still crank up the volume and the distortion on the electric guitar on the more rocking tracks.
Stylistically, Idiots covers a wide range of country and rock bases: bluegrass in “Pennsylvania” and “Choose a Path,” the old-timey bawdy song “Native Trout,” pensive ballads like “Happy Hour,” mid-tempo rockers like “Who Will…” and brassy Memphis-type soul and boozy sing-along choruses on “Bitter Blues.”
Schlappich has a fine ear for a lyric, and tends to concentrate on words at the expense of melody. Where melody is more developed, particularly on the more bluegrassy numbers, the lyrics lean toward cornball or cliche, but this is, after all, country music. Two of the stronger numbers, “Spiders and Planes” (an homage to fellow Pennsylvania musician James Jewel) and “Stray,” benefit from well-crafted melody and strong lyrics.
Idiots hits more often than it misses, and Schlappich shows promise of growing into one of those not-so-common songwriters who can consistently marry words and music. Idiots or savants, Frog Holler continues to develop into a presence on the alt-country scene.
(Record Cellar, 2001)
