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Sociograss: Americana made in Scotland

Colin Randall writes: Sociograss, it says on the tin, are a band from Edinburgh playing American roots, bluegrass and old-time music.

And that is what you get. The new album Made It All Up is bursting with compelling musicianship and some great tunes.

Tim Leslie gets most of the writing credits but all six band members contribute to the vocals and they all seem to have a lot of fun doing it. That impression is reinforced by glancing at snippets from live performances posted at YouTube.

 

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Sociograss: courtesy of the band

 

 

Sociograss's own description is of a sound created by a "rough and rowdy collective". I doubt you can copyright a phrase like that so it probably doesn't matter whether they thought of it before Bob Dylan.

In the case of Sociograss, it is accurate enough; not rough in the sense of being the trifling work of three-chord bashers. What I detect instead is an engaging informality, music that is good but refuses to take itself too seriously. Think Galway Street Club and you will perhaps see what I mean, abundant technical skill to underpin a laid-back demeanour and, as they put it themselves, "a love of bluegrass, free beer and a hell of a good time".

Most of us can relate to the pursuit of free booze and enjoyment. To some extent, I needed Made It All Up to catch the passion for bluegrass. It is not my first port of call when playing music. Even when I wrote about folk for The Daily Telegraph, I tended to include bluegrass listings as a duty, knowing the other music writers would not think of mentioning it.

The album shows what I have been missing.  Mousetrap Rag has already been released as a single and I choose it from the eight tracks as an example to show here.

I listened during a grim drive in pouring rain and heavy traffic in outer London and it eased pain aggravated by news of a last-minute equaliser depriving my Sunderland of the win that would have kept us top. In the circumstances, it's a comforting slice of ragtime, the singing joyful and the playing (fiddle, mandolin, guitar and bass) foot-stompingly good. That may not necessarily be a good thing in a car with automatic transmission but it sounds better with each hearing and the journey passed without mishap.

Henderson Street Breakdown has a similar feel and Squirrely Riders, a set of tunes of traditional origin with a song bolted on, delivers a lively finale stretching almost to nine minutes.

The standout piece for me is the title track, deliciously slow-tempo and building into a lush, almost anthemic drawl that summons memories of the Be Good Tanyas at their best. I am grateful that Ben Errington (vocals and fiddle) gently nagged me to give Sociograss a try.

 

 

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