Right out of the gate, Sean Orr and Mark Rubin shift between a fiddle reel (“Crippled Turkey”), a schottische (“Chapel Hill Special”), and stripped-down conjunto (“Jessie/Jesusita”), with a banjo solo in the middle and a double-time rave-up at the end. That’s just the first three tunes of this 12-track, mostly instrumental odyssey into the possibilities of pairing a fiddle with an acoustic guitar. The former’s fiddle fronts trad Lone Star country outfit Texas Gold as well as a Celtic band. Titular Okie guitarist Mark Rubin, since playing stand-up bass in Austin punk-grass trio the Bad Livers, has proven a musical polymath, indulging in everything from indigenous folk music to klezmer. Rubin also mans “clawhammer banjo, resonator tenor guitar, bass & vocals.” Together, the pair encompasses everything from “Bob Wills’ Waltz in D” to a virtually unrecognizable “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” with Rubin taking a vocal on the bluesy “Letter From My Kid” and Orr one on the hoedown “Home With the Girls.” Texas Fiddle, Okie Guitar – an eclectic delight.
This article appears in August 15 • 2014.
