Two High String Band

Moonshine Boogie (Blue Corn)

When stand-up bassist Bryn Bright moved to Nashville early last year, Austin’s Two High String Band didn’t miss a beat. They soldiered on as a trio and continued to amaze people with just a mandolin and two acoustic guitars. Moonshine Boogie, their first release with this lineup and second overall, again features some spectacular picking and expert ensemble play, though all the chops in the world can’t rescue the vocal limitations of the band. To its credit, Moonshine Boogie splits time between instrumentals and tunes sung and featuring guests like banjo master Tony Trischka, Waybacks fiddler Chojo Jacques, and bass player Eric Thorin of Open Road. As a band, mandolin player Billy Bright and guitarists Brian Smith and Geoff Union really shine on the Celtic influenced “Fiddlehead,” the high-flying newgrass of “Crossing the Devil’s Backbone,” and the jazzy “Meat Glaze.” The appropriately sinister “Cold World” finds Bright recalling Jerry Garcia at his most mysterious. Wanted: another couple of jarfuls of just such Moonshine Boogie.

**.5

This article appears in March 3 • 2006.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US