Real Kentucky Bluegrass

Twenty-Three String Band (Independent)

Twenty-Three String Band

By Ronke Oyekunle

The Twenty-Three String Band's self titled album is a nice arrangement of mostly fast-paced Bluegrass music. This Cumberland Valley, Ky., based group uses an assortment of stringed instruments to create their sound (from a banjo to a mandolin).

Twenty-Three String Band uses its instruments to create a particular sound such as a clucking chicken like in the song "Cluck Old Hen", which makes it delightful to listen to the words of the song because the instrumental music keeps you on your toes.

The album starts off with "Ramblin' Around" a song with an allegro tempo and strong banjo playing. The album continues the fast tempo with "St. James Infirmary" wherein the vocalist asks you to listen to testimony – but its testimony told by the stringed instruments.

Mid-way in the album comes the only mid-tempo song, "Hesitation Blues," which asks, "How long do I have to wait?", thus reminding us of the music genre of blues that often tells a story of a person's troubles. Following the "Hesitation Blues" song is "Sleepy Eyed John," who is getting ready to go out. The fun lyrics state for you to get, "your britches on … tie your shoes".

Next comes "$100 Curls" which tells a story about a man's taste in women. He tries city women, hence the song title "$100 Curls", but they "made a fool out of" him, so he sticks with what he prefers: "a pig-tailed" girl. The album ends like it began with the fast paced song "Blue Yodel #3," which of course includes some yodeling.

Twenty-Three String Band's self titled album is classic bluegrass music with nice artistic tweaks. Its faced-paced tempo can be enjoyed sitting down or on the dance flow. It actually ends with a nice little surprise.

Visit www.myspace.com/the23stringband for more information.