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Debut Thrill Jockey release from the Twigs, available both on CD. (LP w/download code can be had here, and download-only version is available here.)
We think "Ironto Special" is the best representation of Black Twig Picker sound yet produced by any recording scheme -- Nathan's chiming banjo, Isak's muscular guitar runs, Mike's sawing fiddle: It's all here with an immediacy and depth previously heard only if the band was playing on your porch. Thirteen songs, including two originals ("Smoker Wedding March" and "Craig Street Hop") and a slew of traditional material with a deep history in the band's "Ararat to Talcott, and a ways farther out" home territory, all delivered, of course, in the Twigs' signature highly personal, ecstatic manner. Fiddlesticks, washboard, bones, even a snare drum -- all here. Yelps and shouts, yep. As he did on the Twigs' "Hobo Handshake" album, Charlie Parr sits in for the final track, adding a tolling baritone 12-string to the lament "Rockin' in a Weary Land."
All versions of the album come with detailed notes on tunings, sources, etc., plus Whitney Waller's drawings of the band. The package is wrapped in Jeanna Duerscherl's photography. Truly the best presentation of the band's recorded output to date.
Ironto Special Reviews
- ... the elusive grail, the moment when the music and the musicians are one and the same ... (The Bluegrass Special)
- ... steeping themselves in history doesn't dampen the impact of the music -- it magnifies it. (Pitchfork)
- ... as genuine old-time as Uncle Dave Macon and yet are available by digital download ... (Country Standard Time)
- Come on America, let's get back to community... Screw 'Dancing with the Stars!' (Work & Worry)
- The Black Twig Pickers ... are just 80 years behind the times. (fRoots)
- ... this is music that vigorously avoids gentrification. (Uncut)
- Beautifully hand-rendered, Old Weird America folk. (Uncut)
- ... a joyful celebration of a living, breathing musical form. (The Line of Best Fit)
- ... a reminder that concepts of traditional versus contemporary ultimately become arbitrary and meaningless ... (Whisperinandhollerin)
- ...classic hill country music, delivered with love and precision ... (Foxy Digitalis)
- ...making their antique material current and vibrant. (Boomkat)
- ... old-time music isn't just a quaint old thing but part of the fabric of their everyday lives... (Dusted)