Bluegrass players are known for their lightning-fast runs and breakneck tempos, but Al Scorch leaves most of them in the dust with his rapid-fire banjo flailing and accelerated fingerpicking. He’s clearly influenced by the sounds of bluegrass, but jug bands, old-timey music, swing, rock and punk also come into the heady mix. “Want One,” a celebration of drunken revelry, with a taste of dour humor in the lyrics, is taken at a blistering speed with Chris Castellan’s kick drum and Felipe Tobar’s fiddle goosing the tempo into overdrive.
There’s a bit of ragtime swing on “Everybody Out,” a tongue-twisting narrative of feds vs. bootleggers set in the era of prohibition. Tobar’s blistering fiddle keeps pace with Scorch’s amped-up vocals. Things slow down for “City Lullaby,” a lyrical portrait of the falling shadows and twilight hours delivered with the heartbeat of Ausberto Acevedo’s bass complementing Scorch’s subdued banjo strumming.
—j. poet
