Deadstring Brothers – Starving Winter Report (Bloodshot Records).


This is Deadstring Brothers debut release for Bloodshot and the two names that have been most banded about in connection with it are The Rolling Stones and Gram Parsons. The Stones influences hit you straight away on the strong alt. country opener, Sacred Heart and it is apparent how well frontman Kurt Marschke and his vocal sidekick Masha Marijieh’s voices blend together. Toe The Line, like all the songs on the album, is written by Marschke and his drawled vocal adds to its effectiveness. There’s a good sing-along chorus as well. The Stones influences continue on Lights Go Out but make no mistake, Marschke is a good frontman in his own rite. The vocal harmonies continue to their high standards on Get Up Jake and not since Free has Jake been in the limelight – a strong song. Talkin’ Born Blues has a machine gun delivery and is much in the Bob Dylan style of blues.

They slow the pace down for Blindfolded but the quality is not affected. This is another good alt. country song and shows just how good a band they are. A flavour of mountain music is added to Moonlight Only Knows and the guitar, mandolin, fiddle and gentle harmonies are what you would expect from this style of song. The Brothers go electric for Til’ The Bleeding Stops, a bit rare for them, but it’s a bit weaker than the rest although the chorus does lift it somewhat. The Rolling Stones have pervaded a few songs on this album and All Over Now is no different. Marschke’s vocal inflections owe much to Jagger and this song will grow and grow on you. The album finishes all too soon with Lonely Days. It’s upbeat and has a catchy chorus again – this will be one of their trademarks.

Deadstring Brothers (+ sister!) may well just be the next big thing and I’m sorry that I missed them on their recent visits to Glasgow. I won’t make the same mistake again.

http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/
http://www.deadstringbrothers.com/

Copyright David Blue 2006.