New Shows added! Forcastle Festival is coming up soon!
Umm, yeah we’ve added some shows to the calendar folks! Check it out! Have you seen the lineup for the Forcastle Festival July 10 - 12? This one is gonna be off the hook! Take a road trip to Louisville for sure! Hackensaw Boys perform at 8:15pm on July 10th, so come down and see us! Don’t forget, we’re heading out to the left coast in July too! Thanks for a great year so far!
Richmond, Virginia Show Just Announced!
Get Some Punk in the Piedmont!
Last minute show addition...Saturday May 30th. The Hackensaws are playing with Richmond punk rock heroes RPG at Legend Brewing Company in Richmond, VA. Show starts at 9pm. Don't miss this one - it's going to be totally off the hook.
Visit the club's website - http://www.legendbrewing.com/
Visit RPG's website - http://www.rpgva.com/
Forcastle Festival and a west coast tour!
The Hackensaw Boys are performing at the Forcastle Festival on July 11th in Louisville, Kentucky! Other artists on the festival’s lineup include: Widespread Panic, Black Crowes, Black Keys, Avett Brothers, and many, many more. For more information click, HERE. We’re gearing up to hit the west coast in July, and the first part of August! Don’t forget to email The Den Mother – , if you’d like to help hang posters for a show, and get in on the guest list. Check out the calendar for July HERE to see exactly where we’re headed! We have some great dates lined up for May and June here on the east coast, so check it out, and we’ll see you all at the show!
April 18th FESTIVAL FEST!
Come on over to Harrisonburg, Virginia and check out Festival Fest at the campus of JMU, on April 18th! The Hackensaw Boys are performing from 7:00pm - 8:00pm. Admission is FREE! We're also heading to The Basement in Columbus, Ohio on April 22nd, and performing 2 shows at Schubas Tavern in Chicago on April 23rd! Check out the calendar for more tour information.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! We had a fantastic 2008, and want to thank all of you who made it out to our shows! Get ready for 2009 folks! We’ll be hitting Baltimore and DC later in January, so get ready to check us out at the 8x10 and/or the 930 Club! We have shows planned for Virginia and West Virginia in February. March brings us to Asheville, Knoxville and Atlanta. CHECK OUT THE CALENDAR FOR MORE DETAILS!
HOLIDAY THROWDOWN IN CHARLOTTESVILLE!
Come get your dance on with The Hackensaw Boys the Saturday before Christmas!
We're playing Gravity Lounge on December 20th at 10pm!
This is one of the last shows of the year, and we're really looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Tickets are $15 – Get ‘em early folks, cuz this one will sell out!
Please Donate for a Good Cause…because it’ll make you feel really good
Announcing the Night before Thanksgiving
"Give a Buck or Two for Someone who Needs You" Show
The Hackensaws are asking anyone planning to come to our Nov. 26th show at the State Theater in Falls Church, VA to please bring along an extra couple of dollars to donate to some friends whose son Leaf was born with severe vision impairment and needs expensive treatments to restore his sight. There will be donation buckets and information about Leaf at the theater, but please visit http://sightforleaf.blogspot.com/ for more info about Leaf beforehand. PS – He's really, really cute.
www.mycrazymusicblog.com Show Review
Concert Review: The Hackensaw Boys and Bhi Bhiman @ The Red Devil Lounge, San Francisco, CA 11/2 - Antal Polony http://www.mycrazymusicblog.com
The Bay Area music scene, for all its pretensions to diversity and multi-culturalism, is in fact guilty of the same regionalism as everywhere else in the country. Our music of saturation: four-man dyed-hair Indie, punk and Emo bands, drawn like moths to a flame from suburbs and cities coast to coast, and incubated with regularity and efficiency in our local high schools and used album stores. Therefore the show at The Red Devil Lounge in Nob Hill, SF Sunday night, featuring inimitable folk-rocker Bhi Bhiman and the well-known, hugely talented bluegrass group the Hackensaw Boys, was a welcome change, and a good case for a little Americana variety coming in to de-homogenize our over-trendy music clubs.
Bhi Bhiman, a local soloist extremely difficult to categorize, took the stage first and struck a mostly somber tone. With a tremulous, expressive voice backed by a well-handled folk guitar, Bhiman’s music has a poeticism and originality of interpretation that at its best recalls Joan Baez and the folk-rock early days of Bob Dylan. His style is an interesting study in perspective and thoughtfulness, and somehow confounds expectations that the audience might not have realized they had. A good example is his single “Thrilla in Wasilla,” a surprisingly dark ballad about the political phenom that is Sarah Palin. When he announced the song’s subject the audience chuckled lightly, anticipating a little Tina Fey-style satire. But with the first mournful opening chords it became instantly clear that Bhiman wasn’t going for laughs, but rather starkly exploring the more menacing implications of her recent political power, and in a manner more personal than partisan (“It’s like a dress suit on Godzilla/her baby boy’s a stuffed chinchilla”). Much of his stuff is pretty dark, indeed at times so dark that it almost sounds like even he isn’t enjoying it. He might consider that a little levity could go a long way (a la “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream”). But with such a unique style and voice who knows what’d work and what wouldn’t. As Bhiman is pretty young, and just beginning to break into the larger music scene, it’ll be interesting to see where he goes in the next few years.
The Hackensaw Boys took the stage next, and pretty much brought down the house. Next to Bhiman’s sober poetics the Hackensaw Boys struck a huge contrast, bringing upbeat, foot-tapping rhythms, tremendous energy and an overall joy in execution that would’ve brought a smile to Thom Yorke’s face.
They clearly know their craft well. The band was founded in 1999 by Tom Peloso of Modest Mouse and Robert “Mahlone” Bullington,” and the number of players has ranged from as few as four to as many as twelve since then. Last night they were six, and there wasn’t a weak link, nor was there a single track that demanded less than total command and musical confidence. From Shawn Galbraith on a tight, driving banjo, to Ferd Moyse sawing like hell on the fiddle, the players showed great versatility and enthusiasm. The Hackensaw Boys’ bluegrass, staying true to the genre’s roots, is almost utilitarian in its focus: you go see them to have a good time and to let off some steam. Thus they thoroughly understand the music they play. They reiterate again and again in interviews that they are constantly re-working and updating their sound, keeping it fresh and in touch. This is an important and heartening thing for American music in general, helping to demonstrate the universal language that speaks to everyone even from the most culturally removed places (like from the Deep South to San Francisco) and in the most divisive of times (like in the months before a presidential election). This kind of music is valuable, and it doesn’t come around here often. The next time they’re in town I recommend you make a point of seeing them.
City Beat Preview Sound Advice: : Hackensaw Boys
Hackensaw Boys These days it seems like the genre bands with the most loyal followings are the ones who are most adept at revering the past and embracing the future. The Hackensaw Boys fit comfortably in that category. The six-man Bluegrass collective (a number that's occasionally fluctuated to twice that size and sometimes includes Modest Mouse's Tom Peloso, who co-founded the band in 1999 with the Hackensaw's only other original member, Robert "Mahlon" Bullington) adheres to the humble and time-tested heritage of front-porch, down-home musicianship. But at the same time, the Boys understand the connected dots between the traditioned Bluegrass of the '30s and the impassioned Americana/Alt.Country of right now. The band's success in this direction is largely due to the members' amazing ability to combine those concepts in a joyous presentation that respects each one equally without watering down one with the other. Proof of the Hackensaws' amazing versatility is evidenced by their awesome gig resume, which spikes crazily between opening slots for everyone from The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse to The Detroit Cobras and De La Soul. They're also keen to collaborate, serving as the backing band for Country singing/songwriting Hall of Fame legend Charlie Louvin and collaborating with Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven mahouts Johnny Hickman and David Lowery (they've also rung in the new year with Del McCoury at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville). The band's relentless touring schedule also includes every conceivable festival size and configuration, from Bonaroo to Telluride to the Jam Cruise to Kilkenny Roots, and yet they've managed to squeeze in enough writing/recording time to release four studio albums in the past eight years (including last year's acclaimed Look Out) and a live album, a fittingly raucous document celebrating the intensity and musical dedication that have elevated the Hackensaw Boys to beloved status within their adoring fan base.
Aug 28, 2008 · Northside Tavern
- Brian Baker
LOOK OUT!
Order the new album from amazon or awarestore.
After seven years of relentless touring throughout the United States, Europe and the U.K., the Hackensaw Boys are being recognized as one of the most exciting groups on the diverse Americana music scene. The group’s second release for Nettwerk Records, Look Out, represents the recorded culmination of the Hackensaw’s unique vision: A celebratory but defiant sound culled from old-time mountains, backstage doorways and punishing drives through the evolving American landscape.
Nine of the album’s 12 songs were written from within the group and sometime Modest Mouse/sometime Hackensaw Tom Peloso contributed two tracks. A pounding rendition of the traditional “Gospel Plow” rounds out the package.
What do William Faulkner and The Hackensaw Boys have in common?
Aside from a tendency to say stupid things while drunk and an inability to effectively employ punctuation and a deep appreciation for the tragic history of the American South — they’ve both been featured in the Oxford American Review! Check out the 2007 Southern Music Issue featuring a compilation CD with “Look Out Dog” as well as a great article by Geoffrey Himes, who says of the boys: “Even when this Charlottesville band employs ancient Appalachian motifs, they never pretend to be something they’re not.”
Cousin Spits Interview is Podcastified
Listen to the interview over on It Burns When I Pee. We promise you won’t catch anything. Description from the site:
Just when you thought It Burns When I Pee couldn’t get any better, we slap Episode #5 against your computer monitor. In this episode we feature a killer interview with Ward Harrison from The Hackensaw Boys and play a couple of their songs. We also have a special appearance from Dr. Richard Hung, who has an important message for you about PCS. Of course we couldn’t have an episode of It Burns When I Pee without the lovely and talented Cheyenne!