Album Review: The Deadly Gentlemen - Carry Me Home (Self Release)

Thoroughly enjoyable debut from The Deadly Gentlemen who put their own distinctive stamp on bluegrass. Five young players deliver a completely new sound that incorporates their instantly recognisable 'group shouting'; no lead singer to speak of, just a combined all-encompassing choral holler that I imagine would go down equally well at the local bar, the Royal Albert Hall or even at Anfield. Re-inventing bluegrass to include a certain edginess to an already exciting genre, the quintet present a tight, no-nonsense approach to their 'epic folk and grasscore' style of playing. 

With Crooked Still's Greg Liszt on banjo, Stash Wyslouch on guitar, Mike Barnett on fiddle, Dominick Leslie on mandolin and Sam Grisman (yes, David Grisman's son) on double bass, The Deadly Gentlemen possess a youthful, almost punk attitude, but never allow the music to stray too far from grassroots. Even the adventurous Sadie, with its spoken word bluegrass, surely the old time equivalent to rap, keeps you on the edge of your front porch rocker.