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LP
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VHF 153LP
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"Following a series of records with Thrill Jockey (including the sensational Seasonal Hire with Steve Gunn), the Black Twig Pickers return to the VHF mothership to continue their charming and original take on old time and Appalachian-inspired string band sounds. Together since 2001, and a continuous presence in the music's true home of Southwest Virginia, the Twigs represent the actively working evolution of the traditions -- learning songs from other locals, playing dances at the Floyd Country Store, etc -- without retroartifice or nostalgia. The ragged-but-right performances and recording (and Sally Ann Morgan's perfect cover design) sit at the ideal intersection of DIY/'underground' and local string-sound values. On Friend's Peace, the band travels a range of styles, from the lovely harmony on the trad-classic 'Moonshiner' to the racing fiddle/guitar/banjo on the 'Money Musk' medley. Mixed in with the traditional songs are several perfectly-placed original tunes, including Mike Gangloff's keening 'Cara's Waltz' and Isak Howell's solo guitar spotlight on 'Barnswallow'."
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CD
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THR 309CD
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"The Black Twig Pickers are a group defined by their forward thinking approach to a type of music most often associated with times gone by. Over the course of eight full-length records, including collaborative releases with Jack Rose and Charlie Parr, a split LP with Glenn Jones, and numerous EPs and singles, the group has established itself as a collection of dedicated practitioners of old time music re-cast and shaped by their appreciation of modern improvisation, drone, and punk. While not at odds with the experimental scene that has fostered them or the old time circles they travel in, The Black Twig Pickers thrive in the in-betweenness of those two worlds, proving that the exploration of the outmost bounds of sound and the exploration of decades old tradition and community aren't as different as one might think."
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12"
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THR 012.50EP
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"The Black Twig Pickers take it to the dance floor on Whompyjawed, offering long-form, highly rhythmic and deeply layered takes on traditional fiddle and banjo music. Joined by some of the musicians who frequent the Southwest Virginia square dance and flatfooting scene -- fiddler Sally Morgan, and bassist/guitarists Sam Linkous and Joe Dejarnette -- and by a troupe of accomplished feet-percussionists, the Twigs work up propulsive and mesmerizing versions of two side-long songs. 'Merry Mountain Hoedown' is an old-time rocker with Mike Gangloff and Sally Morgan's duo fiddles sawing atop a careening bed of pounding feet and furiously locked-in banjo, guitars and bass, while 'Brushy Fork of John's Creek,' with Sally fiddling and Mike banjo-ing, wanders more spectral -- but no less ferocious -- territory, with Nathan Bowles' washboard and Isak Howell's guitar and mouth harp guiding a long and shifting mix of clattering drone. The Skillet Lickers meet Faust IV?"
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