Brothers In Studs
Deadstring Brothers
Starving Winter Report
(Bloodshot)
From Kurt Marschke’s flat sneer to the country bent of Deadstring’s divebar rock, Starving Winter Report was made with one thing in mind: Exile On Main Street.
Shooting for such rock iconography is dangerous business, and I hazard to guess Deadstring Brothers weren’t strung out in a French villa with Gram Parsons when they recorded this. That much is apparent in Report‘s unsullied production, a glossy mix of Hammond organ, Mash Marjieh’s glowing backups, and touches of banjo, pedal steel, and more slide guitar than you can shake a stick at.
But, Deadstring know their audience will pick up on the source material for this, so in that sense it doesn’t matter how obvious the influence, there just needs to be worthy songs. “Get Up Jake” says gospel can be a white thing, and “Talkin’ Born Blues” argues Bringing It All Back Home may have beaten Music From Big Pink and Sweetheart Of The Rodeo to the cosmic punch. Bluegrass metes out Appalachian flavor (“Moonlight Only Knows”) and even *Gold*-era Ryan Adams ducks out its head (“Lights Go Out”). But there we go with the references again. This Report doesn’t feel complete.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “Sacred Heart.”
Appearing: February 24th at Schubas in Chicago.
