Blueground Undergrass
Live at the Variety Playhouse
review = B

They call it "Hick Hop." The label makes sense. Blueground Undergrass hails from the high hills of the deep south and they play a foot loose and fancy free brand of kick-off-yer-boots newgrass. Dance floors hop every time BGUG hits the stage. Hence, the live album. Recorded in front of a hometown crowd at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, BGUG’s patented undergrass buzz is now available to the rest of the world on this very entertaining release. Led by the Reverend Jeff Mosier, a charismatic banjo plucker with an -aw shucks- hillbilly charm, BGUG is playfully innocent, sorta weird, and a very interesting 60 finger ball of pickin’ and grinnin’ fire.

While there’s a healthy dose of straight ahead Americana, including a faithful cover of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe’s -Blue and Lonesome-, BGUG has a flair for putting a fresh spin on tradition. From the funked up, dustbowl standard, -Take This Hammer-, through a mind blowing, fifteen plus minute -Red Haired Boy/Orange Blossom Spatial- jamboree, to -I Don’t Want To Leave-, an engaging, pedal steel driven and fiddle fired, country rockin’ story/song, BGUG is more interested in creating their own sound than rehashing what’s already been done. -Live at the Variety Playhouse- records them in the process.

ed note- this CD is only available online at radiophoenix.com or homegrownmusic.net