This is like a blast from the past, in more ways than one. Blacksburg’s The Black Twig Pickers play old-time music straight out of the woods, swamps, and hollows of Virginia, keeping a traditional style that dates back over a century alive in the living, breathing present. Fans of bluegrass, alt-country, and all sorts of old-time music will really enjoy what’s in store here. But there’s more to it than that. You see, Mike Gangloff (fiddle) and Nathan Bowles (banjo) are also members of Pelt, a long-running experimental underground group from right here in RVA.
This is like a blast from the past, in more ways than one. Blacksburg’s The Black Twig Pickers play old-time music straight out of the woods, swamps, and hollows of Virginia, keeping a traditional style that dates back over a century alive in the living, breathing present. Fans of bluegrass, alt-country, and all sorts of old-time music will really enjoy what’s in store here. But there’s more to it than that. You see, Mike Gangloff (fiddle) and Nathan Bowles (banjo) are also members of Pelt, a long-running experimental underground group from right here in RVA.
Back in the early 90s when I first started going to local shows, I picked up a couple of Pelt’s earliest releases (specifically a split EP with Damn Near Red and two tracks on the 1993 Richmond-oriented compilation Dixie Flatline). At that time, they had the same sort of heavy, post-hardcore sound that other local bands like Hose.Got.Cable and Maximillian Colby were doing. Another local band from the same period, Ugly Head, had a similar, if a bit more chaotic and experiemental sound. That group featured Jack Rose on bass and Pat Cardenas on drums. Eventually Ugly Head broke up, and Jack and Pat joined Pelt. I’m simplifying things so much here that I’m being slightly inaccurate, but the point is that Pelt evolved a tremendous amount in a very short amount of time, and by the turn of the milennium had basically become an experimental folk/drone/noise band. Bear with me, I’m coming to the point.
Before his untimely death in 2007, Jack Rose became quite well-known for his solo work as an acoustic guitarist, playing the style known as “American primitive,” a synthesis of the roots of American country, blues, jazz, and folk music that was invented by legendary acoustic guitarist John Fahey. Mike Gangloff began exploring similar styles, both within Pelt and on his own, which eventually culminated in the formation of the Black Twig Pickers. As you will see in the video below, despite having arrived at old-time music through the route of experimentation rather than traditionalism, The Black Twig Pickers are all but indistinguishable from a traditional bluegrass band, fitting in easily at last September’s Friday Night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store (which, for those of you who aren’t aware, is in beautiful downtown Floyd, about 30 miles South of Blacksburg). And yet, despite looking like a bunch of country boys, they maintain a following in the avant-garde music community, and record for the eclectic Chicago label Thrill Jockey (their new EP, Yellow Cat, is out next month). Goes to show you never can tell.
