Dear MariBella & The Pigkickers, a young sibling band out of Hampstead, NC, have a new original single released last week.
Sin Eater is a somewhat haunting, but up-tempo bluegrass ballad that tells the plight of a poor, marginalized individual in historical cultures, particularly in Britain and Appalachia in the 17th through the 19th centuries, who would ritually consume a meal, often bread and ale, placed on a corpse. This act was believed to absorb the deceased’s sins, allowing their soul to pass to the afterlife without the burden of sin. The sin eater was then shunned by the community, seen as taking on the evil they purged. The practice or ritual is thought to be from Welsh culture.
In this new single, penned by AnnMari and Isabella Trakimowicz, the Pigkickers tell the story and plight of the sin eater “drinking the sins of those asleep, making promises you can’t keep. Sin eater, oh sin eater. Traveling this world alone and damned, reaching out with empty hands.”
AnnMari (guitar) leads the vocal with sister Isabella (fiddle) and brother Pete (banjo) providing the harmonies. Younger brother Chris plays mandolin and their dad, Joel, plays bass fiddle.
While the song’s subject is rather unusual for the bluegrass genre, maybe except for Bringing Mary Home, it has a catchy melody that moves right along to the ending where the listener learns of the way out for the sin eater.
Although the band has only been performing for four years, and the siblings range in age from 12 to 21, they are quite professional in their stage presence, their songwriting ability, and their production work in the studio, as demonstrated in this original offering. From their debut EP, titled Magnolia, through their recent album, On Forgotten Paths, the Pigkickers have proved they are an up-and-coming force in bluegrass music.
AnnMari sings the lead with all the force and finesse that she demonstrated in On Forgotten Paths. This young lady, at only 18, shows tremendous promise in the bluegrass genre. Older sister, Isabella provides a nice tenor part, and Pete, at only 14, is quickly mastering the third parts. Yes, he has a deeper voice than most boys his age. The instrumentation on Sin Eater is spot on, and once again these youngsters have recorded a song where the vocals are not buried beneath the instruments.
Sin Eater is available for download on all streaming platforms, as well as at Get It Played for radio programmers.
Have a listen in their accompanying music video.
