Karl Shiflett has always been a throwback specialist, and his many recordings over the years have reflected his respect and admiration for the music of bygone eras. Bluegrass and traditional country are his areas of expertise, and the current edition of his band, Big Country Show, share his fascination with the early days of these musical forms.

 

Like Ralph Stanley always did, Shiflett avoids the label “bluegrass,” calling his music “ole-tyme acoustic country music,” but there’s no denying what it is. If categories are important to you, you could describe it as “retro country grass” or “old bluegrass country.”

 

For his latest Patuxent album, Karl just calls it Sho Nuff Country, with 15 arrangements of popular songs from bluegrass, country, and tin pan alley mostly taken from the 1920s through the ’60s. If you think that sounds corny, you’d be right. It’s brilliantly corny, kitschy, campy, and jaunty…  in a highly reverential and appreciative manner.

 

From Shiflett’s trademark high leg kick on stage, to their authentic period dress, these boys mean to bring forward a time in music that has passed us by. If you don’t get it, the joke’s on you.

 

Some of the material here is drawn into the honky tonk, bar room country repertoire, with songs like Six Pack To Go, which was a big hit for Hank Thompson, and Pick Me Up On Your Way Down, previously cut by multiple country stars like Charley Walker, Webb Pierce and Wanda Jackson, get a swingy acoustic treatment – complete with twin fiddles.

 

Others are old time favorites, like My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It, or Sally Was A Good Old Girl, instantly recognizable for most of us from childhood, are converted into Shiflett’s brand of country grass. Bluegrass classics also get their due, with a nice take on Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Stomp, and Monroe Fields’ Only You with its call-and-response lyrics. Karl sings them all in his distinctive Texas drawl, with just a touch of Lester Flatt’s habit of coming in below pitch and slowly sliding into the note.

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