Tractor Beam

The debut album featuring fiddler Rosie Newton and banjoist Richie Stearns was originally issued in the US in 2013, but has been recently released in the UK ahead of the duo's 2017 tour. A clawhammer banjo veteran of alt-country troupes The Horse Flies and Donna the Buffalo, Stearns has toured and recorded with Natalie Merchant, Jim Lauderdale, John Doyle, Tony Trischka and Carrie Rodriguez. Newton is a classically trained viola wiz-kid with a mid-range voice and very facile fingers. Tractor Beam gives Richie and Rosie ample room to strut their distinctive take on traditional and original Americana material.

They get to the heart of things on the title-track, with Newton's violin sounding like an aching saw, and plenty of urgent longing in the harmony vocals on the assertive line ‘I’m gonna use my tractor beam to pull you in.’ The duo's instrumental prowess runs through it all, especially on tracks such as ‘Shirt Tail Boogie’, which is propelled by a magnificent pairing of pizzicato violin and muted banjo.