Hammertowne
Highways & Heartaches
Mountain Fever Records
4½ stars (out of 5)
By Larry Stephens
Out of the gate you get hard driving, traditional bluegrass that grabs you and holds your attention. You won’t be trying to guess the genre when you hear Hammertowne.
“Broken Heart Mended” was written by banjoist Brent Pack and is an excellent song. Pack got his start with Ernie Thacker and lists Ron Stewart as one of his influences. Stewart, known throughout bluegrass as an excellent banjo player and fiddler knows his way around a guitar and mandolin even though he professes otherwise. On this CD he sits in on fiddle. Pack plays a hard driving banjo and is joined by Dave Carroll and Scott Tackett (both: guitar, vocals), Chaston Carroll (mandolin, vocals) and Bryan Russell (bass, vocals). Dave Carroll’s songs have been recorded by the Lonesome River Band and IIIrd Tyme Out plus other nationally known bands. The picking and singing are excellent. The division of labor between the two guitar pickers seems to be Tackett playing rhythm when he sings and Carroll playing lead.
“Call Out His Name” is an uptempo gospel number with a melody that’s a bit on the repetitive side. “Hansel’s Barn Dance” is a good, medium-speed instrumental that shows off the band’s abilities on their instruments. I’ve heard Dr. Ralph sing “Pretty Polly” a bunch of times, but Hammertowne offers up “Polly’s Revenge,” penned by Dave Carroll to tell the rest of the story. Masked men break her killer out of jail and he thinks his future has just gotten brighter. Unfortunately, his rescuers are Polly’s father and brothers and they—well, you need to hear the song. “Heartaches and Pain” is a good bluegrass number about broken love. This is a good example of the band’s good harmony singing and arrangements. They are banjo-centric. Some bands leave empty banjo space now and then and that tends to emphasize the banjo when it is being played. Their choice isn’t uncommon in bluegrass and that’s to have the banjo firing all the time.
There’s a disconnect with Tack 6. The CD cover lists it as “Sad Song Melody” (Chaston Carroll) while the media player shows “You’re Not Here With Me.” Whatever it’s called, it’s a good song. The bassman isn’t doing anything spectacular, but spectacular isn’t the purpose of the bass. He’s up front in the mix providing a solid foundation and I think that’s great. “Nothing Left But Time To Do” (Dave Carroll) is all about regrets and prison and has a good line about sleeping all night with one eye open.
Hammertowne provides eleven good tracks on this CD, no throwaways, no compromises with the type of bluegrass I believe Monroe-Stanley-Marti-style bluegrass fans will enjoy. This is good music.
The Lonesome Road Review 