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Music ReviewsFeb-Mar 2004 To The Wood/Self-titled DTW001
On most fronts one has to be impressed with what the band exited the studio with after these inaugural sessions. DTTW wisely shift the tempos and focus regularly, aiming for a ballad after a spirited romp, or placing a country-dipped heartbreaker between two numbers that put the emphasis on instrumental soloing. Appleton, Ladouceur and Hoffart went to some of the purest and deepest wells on the bluegrass back forty and came back with timeless tunes penned by Herb Pederson (“Rambler’s Blues”), Lester Flatt (“I’ll Stay Around”), Johnny Russell (“Making Plans”) and Tim O’Brien (“Hard Pressed”). An interesting marriage of genres comes when DTTW fuse the hardcore delta blues of “Crossroads” with the Bill Monroe gospel bluegrass anthem “The Old Crossroads.” This is an album that points to a bright future for the northern Alberta-based band that found itself being booked at some of our premier bluegrass festivals this past summer. |
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That giant ripple that can be traced back to the phenomenal success of O Brother Where Art Thou continues to inspire a host of fresh bluegrass talent around the globe. In western Canada, one such crew of upstart pickers and singers is Down To The Wood, a tight trio who have stitched together a pleasant and passionate debut outing that puts the focus on interpretations of other artists’ and tunesmiths’ compositions. The profiles of two members of DTTW, banjo player Curtis Appleton and guitarist/mandolinist Marc Ladouceur, had been given a boost in the past few years thanks to associations with groups like Maple Creek and Grass Routes. However this 12-song album sets those two players and bassist Glen Hoffart neatly in the spotlight.