Queen City Jubilee

Seriously solid traditional bluegrass music, freshly interpreted and rendered with passion and precision for 21st-century ears; that's the formula used by The Slocan Ramblers, who have been wowing crowds recently at festivals and in concert venues across the US and in the band's Canadian homeland. Their third album, Queen City Jubilee, could be the one that propels them to the forefront of the acoustic roots scene. The 14 tracks include a number of original compositions, such as ‘Mighty Hard Road’, ‘First Train in the Morning’ and ‘Just to Know’, which demonstrate the band's special affinity for old-time and traditional American folk music and their ability to tap into the Appalachian soul. Three selections showcase the Ramblers’ instrumental acumen, giving Frank Evans (banjo), Adrian Gross (mandolin), Darryl Poulsen (guitar) and Alastair Whitehead (bass) plenty of room to throw their swinging, shimmy-shaking string stuff around. This music exists in the same realm as The Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs and the Louvin Brothers, which is to say it's as good as contemporary bluegrass gets.