Rusty Veins video from The Timber Rattlers

The Timber Rattlers, a bluegrass quartet from Missoula, MT, have released their debut album, Last Echo, which features 11 new tracks of primarily original material written within the band. To celebrate, they have shared a live-in-the-studio video of the opening track, Rusty Veins.

Their style combines a very contemporary sensibility that will surely appeal to the jamgrass crowd, especially combined with their high energy performance, but set off by sterling banjo and fiddle playing, coming from the traditions of mainstream bluegrass. Included in the band are Jamie Drysdale on guitar, Caleb Dostal on banjo, Dillon Johns on bass, and Jesse Brown on fiddle. All have extensive experience in the music, and together they have created a distinctive sound all their own.

Drysdale wrote and sings Rusty Veins, and he tells us a bit about how the song came to be.

Rusty Veins was one of those songs that had been kicking around for years. I thought of the chorus out of the blue while hiking in Wyoming, and right away, liked the idea of comparing an old worn down person to an old rattletrap engine. There’s good imagery potential there, in terms of ‘rusty veins’ and ‘seized up life,’ imagining that the only thing keeping this guy running, and lubricating his life, was his drink.

For the verses and bridge, I just had to zone out and put myself in such a person’s shoes and think about what it is that has worn them down, what their environment looks like, and what they have left in the tank.”

For the video shoot, the Rattlers returned to the scene of the crime, Yellow Seahorse Records, where Last Echo was tracked and mixed. 

Special kudos to The Timber Rattlers for the album’s unique cover art, an original pencil drawing by Tommaso Moretti. It conveys the very image Jamie discussed above, a beat down old vehicle, barely holding together.

Last Echo is available now wherever you stream or download music online.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.