Hackensaw Boys Archives - Bluegrass Today

Live Hackensaw Boys LP for European tour

Virginia’s Hackensaw Boys have pressed limited quantities of a live album recorded in January for sale during their brief European tour this week.

Entitled Live ‘Till The Sweet By And By, the LP-only release features the rough and rowdy, roots and bluegrass sound that has made the Boys a major player in the acoustic jam band scene.

The band is Ward Harrison on guitar, John Miller on bass, Ben Townsend on fiddle and banjo, Ferd Moyse IV on fiddle and banjo, David Sickmen on guitar, Brian Gorby on charismo, and Thomas Olivier on banjo and mandolin.

Though the LP is only available at their shows in Europe this week, fans worldwide can listen to the tracks online.

Remaining tour dates include:

8/26 – Krefeld (DE), Kulturrampe
8/28 – Berlin (DE), White Trash Fast Food
8/29 – Hamburg (DE), Club Am Donnerstag
8/30 – Den Haag (NL), Big Texas BBQ Party
8/31 – Sint-Truiden (BE), Chateau de la Motte

They guys have already posted some live audio from the tour on their web site.

The Hackensaw Boys with Danny Barnes Holiday Tour 2012

Danny Barnes opens for The Hackensaw Boys in the Southeast – December 27-31, 2012.

The Hackensaw Boys will hit the road this holiday season for a tour with Danny Barnes (Bad Livers) in the Southeast. This tour covers Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia before ending in Asheville, North Carolina at The Grey Eagle for New Year’s Eve. The Hackensaw Boys have been hard at work this summer and fall with touring (East and West Coast), writing, and perfecting their live shows. Opener Danny Barnes released 3 albums last year on ATO Records and is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and genre-bending artists of his craft. You can catch The Hackensaw Boys with Danny Barnes at:

December 27^th, 2012 – The State Theatre – Falls Church, VA
December 28^th, 2012 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
December 29^th, 2012 – Georgia Theatre – Athens, GA
December 30^th, 2012 – Smith’s Olde Bar – Atlanta, GA
December 31^st, 2012 – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC

For booking information or interview requests, please contact Tyler Wakeman (tyler@bmatours.com) with Blue Mountain Management Group.

Bluegrass on Blue Plate Special

Blue Plate Special, the long-running noontime radio show on WDVX has a big dose of bluegrass on the program this week.

Today’s show (9/3) features Gold Heart a terrific young family bluegrass group from northern Virginia. The band is made up of the singing Gold sisters, Analise, Jocelyn and Shelby, and their dad Trent along with Zach Gilmer. Their harmony is emblematic of why family singing groups have had such an exalted place in the history of bluegrass, and they play with intensity and passion.

On Thursday (9/4) the raucous, jam-grass Hackensaw Boys will perform, followed by bluegrass bad boys Cadillac Sky on Friday. Expect C-Sky to preview material from their new CD, Gravity’s Our Enemy, released in August on Skaggs Family Records.

Blue Plate Special originates from Knoxville, TN, where it airs weekdays at noon (ET) on 102.9 and 105.9 FM, and via the WDVX streaming broadcast over the Internet. No audio archives, so be sure to listen live.

Look Out for Hackensaw Boys June 19

The Hackensaw Boys have been sneaking around the edges of several acoustic/Americana genres since their formation in Charlottesville, VA seven years ago. Their sound is raw and raucous, frenetic and unfocused, and bursting with energy and passion. It’s part jug band, part vaudeville, part old time string band – not unlike the sort of sound popularized of late by The Old Crow Medicine Show.

The name is derived from two slang expressions that are not always used in a complimentary fashion about string musicians – hack and saw. It does, however, nicely capture the irreverent approach they take to the music, and their sound – plus the look and the vibe – has won them a loyal audience.

Look Out is the name of their newest CD, due for a June 19 release on Nettwerk Records. It’s their fifth full length CD, and their second with Nettwerk. The instrumentation is as varied as the Hacks’ sound – accordion, banjo, harmonica, guitar, fiddle, spoons, and of course, saw.

Members perform with colorful stage names, and include Jesse Fiske (Baby J.), Jimmy Stelling (The Kooky-Eyed Fox), Robert Bullington (Mahlon), Ferd Lionel Moyse, IV (Four), Ward Harrison (Cousin Spits) and Justin Neuhardt (Salvage).

Two tracks from the new CD are available on the band’s MySpace page.