Trout Steak Revival – Spirit to the Sea
Yesterday I posted that two albums have stood out in my music rotation over the last few weeks. The first one was Hard Times the latest release from jazz saxophonist Vincent Herring. The second one is Spirit to the Sea from the Colorado Indie-Americana string band Trout Steak Revival. I first encountered the music of Trout Steak Revival back in 2012 , when I listened to their album Flight. After listening to that album I knew that this was a band that was going places. And they did!
About Trout Steak Revival
In 2014 they won the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition. They also won an Emmy Award for a soundtrack they contributed to a Rocky Mountain PBS web documentary. they have also collaborated with school children in mentoring programs in Denver and Steamboat Springs. Their music is featured on Bank of Colorado’s radio and
Trout Steak Revival’s music blends the sounds of folk, indie, bluegrass, and roots into their own style of Americana. The band members include: Casey Houlihan – Bass, Steve Foltz – Mandolin/Guitar, Will Koster – Dobro/Guitar, Bevin Foley- Fiddle and Travis McNamara – Banjo.
I love a band where the members are all masters of their respective instruments. That is certainly the case with the members of Trout Steak Revival! And while each picker is great there are two that make this album special for me and they are: Will Koster whose dobro sounds great throughout the album, and Bevin Foley’s fiddle which really makes some of the tracks soar!
Now many times when I listen to bluegrass albums I kinds cringe when I hear the vocals. There are some voices out there that are just too twangy for me. That is NOT the case with Trout Steak Revival, I love the vocals on Spirit to the Sea. On Spirit to the Sea, like their previous releases all five band members contribute unique lyrics, lead vocals and harmonies. And to my ears they all sound fantastic.
Bottom Line:
Spirit to the Sea is a 4.25 star out of 5 album for me. Five stars for the picking, four stars for the lyrics and four stars for the vocals and four stars for the overall upbeat feel of the album. Average them together and you get 4.25 stars. Ok so every time I start to pick out tracks that I like on an album, I usually find myself saying I like this one and this one and pretty soon it’s the whole album. So I ‘ll just say check it out!
Final Thoughts
I started this two-part post by writing about my eclectic taste in music. I said that I didn’t think there were many folks out there who like both bluegrass and jazz. So what connects the two genres of music for me. It’s like I wrote earlier listening to musicians who are masters of their respective instruments. In the case of Vincent Herring’s Hard Times it’s listening to the musical artistry of Vincent Herring, Cyrus Chestnut and Russell Malone. Masters of the saxophone, piano and guitar respectively. On Spirit to the Sea it’s listening to great mandolin and guitar from Steve Foltz , dobro from Will Koster, Bevin Foley’s fiddle and Travis McNamara’s banjo.
The big difference between the two genres for me is when I listen to them. I mainly listen to jazz while I’m reading and bluegrass when I’m in the car or when I’m up moving around and doing something. How is it with you???
So how about we close out this post with “Feeling So Good” the closing track on Spirit to the Sea.
Links for the Further Exploration of the Music of Trout Steak Revival
Artist’s Website
Twitter
Amazon:
Facebook:
Sound Cloud:
Reverbnation:
