DEADSTRING BROTHERS
''STARVING WINTER REPORT''
SEPTEMBER 29 2005
38:48
1/Sacred Heart
Kurt Marschke/4:16
2/Toe the Line
Kurt Marschke/3:41
3/Lights Go Out
Kurt Marschke/4:44
4/Get Up Jake/3:07
5/Talkin' Born Blues
Kurt Marschke/4:22
6/Blindfolded
Kurt Marschke/3:43
7/Moonlight Only Knows
Kurt Marschke/3:10
8/'Til the Bleeding Stops
Kurt Marschke/3:47
9/All Over Now
Kurt Marschke/3:54
10/Lonely Days
Kurt Marschke/4:04
Rayse Biggs /Trumpet
Edward Gooch /Trombone
E. Travis Harrett /Drums
Eric Hoegemeyer /Percussion
Masha Marjieh /Percussion, Vocals
Kurt Marschke /Dobro, Guitar, Mandolin, Producer, Vocals
Kurt Maschke /Dobro, Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
David Mosher /Fiddle
Philip Skarich /Bass
Ross Westerbur /Fender Rhodes, Organ, Piano
REVIEW
by Hal Horowitz
It's difficult, if not impossible, to listen to Detroit's Deadstring Brothers and not flash back to Sticky Fingers/Exile on Main St.-era Rolling Stones. Lead singer/songwriter Kurt Marschke and harmony vocalist Masha Marjieh (who also plays a mean maracas and tambourine) have perfected their version of Jagger/Richards '70s sound. Which isn't to infer they are a second-rate Stones cover band. Rather the Deadstring Brothers find heat in the country that so invigorated the Stones during that period. It's a raucous combination of Gram Parsons and the Band (right down to a nifty version of Robbie Robertson's "Get Up Jake," a cool find and the disc's only cover) that provides the groove. The sound of Highway 61 Dylan also informs tracks such as "Talkin' Born Blues," whose pounding piano, slide guitar, and organ, along with Marschke's spitfire vocals, make the Bob connection inevitable. The unrelated Brothers bring their own energy to this sound, though, and the nine original songs that dominate the disc have a loose yet structured feel that transform good songs into great ones. The ballad "Blindfolded" has the same tensile, bubbling-under energy, especially when the pedal steel guitar glides in, that propelled "Wild Horses." Ross Westerbur's sympathetic keyboards emphasize both the honky tonk and rock, and help find the balance that makes this "country-rock" in the best sense of the often diluted genre. Each track is well performed, but Starving Winter Report works best as a cohesive album with every song building upon the last to yield a disc that is more than the sum of its impressive parts.
BIOGRAPHY
by Mark Deming
Born and bred in a city hardly known for its country music heritage, Detroit's Deadstring Brothers play alternative country-rock with no small amount of rock & roll swagger and a deep bluesy undertow that often suggests Exile on Main St.-era Rolling Stones more than Uncle Tupelo or their followers. The Deadstring Brothers formed in late 2001, when singer and songwriter Kurt Marschke, who had been playing shows as a solo acoustic act, began working up material with a handful of likeminded friends. The band wasted no time earning a reputation for its tough but soulful sound, and on September 9, 2003, the group released its self-titled debut through Detroit's Times Beach Records. On the disc, Marschke was joined by Peter Ballard (Dobro, pedal steel), Phil Durr (guitar), Eric Hoegemeyer (tambourine), Aric Karpinski (organ, piano), William King (percussion, drums), Philip Skarich (bass, guitar, percussion), and Ross Westerbur (strings, chamberlin), with background vocals by Skarich, Robert Burrows, Masha Marjieh, Mimi Marjieh, and Loura Rock. Plenty of touring followed, with The Deadstring Brothers sharing stages with Cat Power, the Sadies, the Drive-By Truckers, and My Morning Jacket. In 2005, the band signed with Chicago's premier alt-country label, Bloodshot Records. Bloodshot licensed their second long-player, Starving Winter Report, to Evangeline Records for release in England, where it actually appeared prior to its domestic release, on October 3, 2005, the American issue coming on February 21, 2006. The musicians performing on the album were Marschke, Hoegemeyer, Skarich, Westerbur, Masha Marjieh, Rayse Biggs (trumpet), Edward Gooch (trombone), and David Mosher (fiddle). More touring followed, and the band's personnel continued to evolve, in particular with the infusion of several British members. As of the release of The Deadstring Brothers' third album, Silver Mountain, on October 9, 2007, the group was a sextet consisting of Marschke, Masha Marjieh, drummer E. Travis Harrett, and U.K. recruits Spencer Cullum on guitar, pedal steel, and lap steel, his older brother Jeff Cullum on bass, and Pat Kenneally on keyboards. São Paulo followed three years later in 2010.
''STARVING WINTER REPORT''
SEPTEMBER 29 2005
38:48
1/Sacred Heart
Kurt Marschke/4:16
2/Toe the Line
Kurt Marschke/3:41
3/Lights Go Out
Kurt Marschke/4:44
4/Get Up Jake/3:07
5/Talkin' Born Blues
Kurt Marschke/4:22
6/Blindfolded
Kurt Marschke/3:43
7/Moonlight Only Knows
Kurt Marschke/3:10
8/'Til the Bleeding Stops
Kurt Marschke/3:47
9/All Over Now
Kurt Marschke/3:54
10/Lonely Days
Kurt Marschke/4:04
Rayse Biggs /Trumpet
Edward Gooch /Trombone
E. Travis Harrett /Drums
Eric Hoegemeyer /Percussion
Masha Marjieh /Percussion, Vocals
Kurt Marschke /Dobro, Guitar, Mandolin, Producer, Vocals
Kurt Maschke /Dobro, Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
David Mosher /Fiddle
Philip Skarich /Bass
Ross Westerbur /Fender Rhodes, Organ, Piano
REVIEW
by Hal Horowitz
It's difficult, if not impossible, to listen to Detroit's Deadstring Brothers and not flash back to Sticky Fingers/Exile on Main St.-era Rolling Stones. Lead singer/songwriter Kurt Marschke and harmony vocalist Masha Marjieh (who also plays a mean maracas and tambourine) have perfected their version of Jagger/Richards '70s sound. Which isn't to infer they are a second-rate Stones cover band. Rather the Deadstring Brothers find heat in the country that so invigorated the Stones during that period. It's a raucous combination of Gram Parsons and the Band (right down to a nifty version of Robbie Robertson's "Get Up Jake," a cool find and the disc's only cover) that provides the groove. The sound of Highway 61 Dylan also informs tracks such as "Talkin' Born Blues," whose pounding piano, slide guitar, and organ, along with Marschke's spitfire vocals, make the Bob connection inevitable. The unrelated Brothers bring their own energy to this sound, though, and the nine original songs that dominate the disc have a loose yet structured feel that transform good songs into great ones. The ballad "Blindfolded" has the same tensile, bubbling-under energy, especially when the pedal steel guitar glides in, that propelled "Wild Horses." Ross Westerbur's sympathetic keyboards emphasize both the honky tonk and rock, and help find the balance that makes this "country-rock" in the best sense of the often diluted genre. Each track is well performed, but Starving Winter Report works best as a cohesive album with every song building upon the last to yield a disc that is more than the sum of its impressive parts.
BIOGRAPHY
by Mark Deming
Born and bred in a city hardly known for its country music heritage, Detroit's Deadstring Brothers play alternative country-rock with no small amount of rock & roll swagger and a deep bluesy undertow that often suggests Exile on Main St.-era Rolling Stones more than Uncle Tupelo or their followers. The Deadstring Brothers formed in late 2001, when singer and songwriter Kurt Marschke, who had been playing shows as a solo acoustic act, began working up material with a handful of likeminded friends. The band wasted no time earning a reputation for its tough but soulful sound, and on September 9, 2003, the group released its self-titled debut through Detroit's Times Beach Records. On the disc, Marschke was joined by Peter Ballard (Dobro, pedal steel), Phil Durr (guitar), Eric Hoegemeyer (tambourine), Aric Karpinski (organ, piano), William King (percussion, drums), Philip Skarich (bass, guitar, percussion), and Ross Westerbur (strings, chamberlin), with background vocals by Skarich, Robert Burrows, Masha Marjieh, Mimi Marjieh, and Loura Rock. Plenty of touring followed, with The Deadstring Brothers sharing stages with Cat Power, the Sadies, the Drive-By Truckers, and My Morning Jacket. In 2005, the band signed with Chicago's premier alt-country label, Bloodshot Records. Bloodshot licensed their second long-player, Starving Winter Report, to Evangeline Records for release in England, where it actually appeared prior to its domestic release, on October 3, 2005, the American issue coming on February 21, 2006. The musicians performing on the album were Marschke, Hoegemeyer, Skarich, Westerbur, Masha Marjieh, Rayse Biggs (trumpet), Edward Gooch (trombone), and David Mosher (fiddle). More touring followed, and the band's personnel continued to evolve, in particular with the infusion of several British members. As of the release of The Deadstring Brothers' third album, Silver Mountain, on October 9, 2007, the group was a sextet consisting of Marschke, Masha Marjieh, drummer E. Travis Harrett, and U.K. recruits Spencer Cullum on guitar, pedal steel, and lap steel, his older brother Jeff Cullum on bass, and Pat Kenneally on keyboards. São Paulo followed three years later in 2010.
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