There’s a party in here! Tap your toes, move your feet, and laugh your dramas away. Devil in a Woodpile breathes new, booty-shaking high spirit into the string band, jug band, jump blues music, and hokum jazz that bequeathed its sass and energy to rock ‘n’ roll.
In Your Lonesome Town is a cook’s tour of early-20th century devil’s music.
Sonny Terry’s “A Long Way From Home” has Rick “Cookin’” Sherry making like a train, chugging on the harmonica, and yipping like a train whistle. It’s the sound of fun being had. Fats Waller’s “Louisiana Fairytale” is a singular slow dance, with Sherry leading on clarinet, Gary Schepers enlivening the bottom end on the tuba, and Joel Paterson’s finger-picking style rivaling the masters. Sherry interprets the lyrics like a sly vaudevillian. Paterson gets a star turn on the lone original, “Beer Ticket Rag”, as bassist Tom V. Ray shows off the string-slapping style he learned from Willie Dixon on the street corners of New Orleans. The ringer in the set is Led Zeppelin’s “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” which opens with straight-up bluegrass until the signature bass hook comes up in the mix. Sherry’s raspy, textured baritone and the all-acoustic throw-down treatment make it sound like a juke box jive. Indulge the inevitable temptation to download clips by the original artists, including Charlie Patton (“Shake It And Break It”), Sonny Boy Williamson (“Until My Love Comes Down”), and Big Bill Broonzy (“When I’m Drinkin’”). Digging for the obscurities may be even more rewarding: Broonzy’s regular sidekick, Washboard Sam, for instance, or Blind Roosevelt Graves and his brother Uoray, not to mention Daddy Stovepipe and Casey Bill Weldon. If history is not your thing, save the lesson and just dig it. You’ll be dancing right out of your lonesome town.
–Linda Ray, Illinois Entertainer March 2005
And if the world were fair, their “Bron-y-aur Stomp” would kick Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Hey Hey What Can I Do?” from the tracklist of the Led Zeppelin tribute album.
–Brian J. Barr, Harp Magazine May 2005
These talented rapscallions will transport you back to the good ol’ days of moonshine and garter belts, under-aged weddings, and hootenannies.
Square-dancing is permitted, so long as you’ve had enough to drink. Under the Devil’s spell, that’s all you’ll wanna do.
–Sid Andruska, Playback St. Louis March 2005
Fran Magazine March 2005
AllMusic Guide
The Music Box March 2005
Splendid Magazine 3/2/2005
Third Coast Press CD Review