The Coal Porters “Durango” (Prima, 2010)

Career best from Sid Griffin’s bluegrassers

Recorded in two weeks in the eponymous town in a stripped down “as live” style, erstwhile Long Ryder Sid Griffin’s Coal Porters fourth album is a joyous bluegrass romp that captures the spirit of the outfit perfectly. This is a band whose element is the live show, where Griffin’s fiery presence at the centre is complemented by Neil Robert Herd’s lugubrious asides and there’s sterling instrumental from everybody, and this is precisely what you get on “Durango.”

The songs are taken from far and wide and range from a delicate cover of Peter Rowan’s “Midnight Moonlight” (on which Rowan guests) to Herd’s three wry drinking songs, all of which have much more to say than a superficial listen would reveal and pack a sting in the tail. The pick of them is the Bob Wills-styled “The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Oil,” not least for the lines describing a problem that will be familiar to beer drinkers everywhere: “I say “bartender, could you fit a dram in here?”/He says “I think there’s space, I say “if that’s the case/why don’t you fill it up with beer?” Griffin himself is on fine writing form too, with “Permanent Twilight”, a story of a soldier wounded in Iraq, a haunting memory and the celebratory “No More Chains” the standouts. Elsewhere the band romp through the traditional “Pretty Polly” and banjo player Dick Smith rips it up on “Roadkill Breakdown” (with Tim O’Brien contributing mighty mandolin solos). There’s only one misstep: Neil Young’s “Like A Hurricane” doesn’t respond well to the light and airy treatment it’s given, losing its epic power completely, but that aside “Durango” captures a band in full flight, a band at their peak, and a band to rank with the best bluegrassers around.

Date review added:  Sunday, February 28, 2010
Reviewer:  Jeremy Searle
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  Sid Griffin website