Squirrel Hunting

The debut album by Hot Rock Pilgrims proves at least one thing: given enough talent and determination, a pan-European quintet composed of an Irishman, a German and three Brits can sound just like a born-in-Appalachia bluegrass band. Hubert Murray (vocals, guitar), Bruno Pichler (dobro), Dan Edwards (vocals, banjo, guitar), Kieran Towers (fiddle) and Sam Rose (double bass) kick off their 12-track album Squirrel Hunting adventure with the title-track, which is an expertly executed, sweetly swinging instrumental that provides each band member with a stretch of bars to strut his stuff.

Next, the Hot Rock Pilgrims purvey their multi-part harmony vocals on the track ‘Sitting on Top of the World’, which is a country blues that was written and first recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks in 1930. The following track, ‘Shadows in My Room’, was written by Nick Forster, the Beirut-born bass player for the popular all-American bluegrass troupe Hot Rize. Hot Rock Pilgrims mine the bluegrass songbook with sincere dedication, fine articulation and enough genuine hoedown chutzpah to give the native sons and daughters a run for their straw bonnets and flannels.