Hot Buttered Rum’s new release Lonesome Panoramic, recorded at Panoramic House Studio, and engineered by Robert Cheek (the Chris Robinson Brotherhood), offers groovy, jam-based yet traditional sounding bluegrass, via old time country music stringed instruments and groovy rhythms. Nat Keefe and Erik Yates, frontmen on vocals, guitar and banjo, with Bryan Horne on bass; Zebulon Bowles on fiddle; and James Stafford on drums and mandolin, the band continues to carry funky bluegrass traditions forward.
“You Can Tell” is the album’s salutatory song, with both Bowles on fiddle and Yates on banjo, as the lyrics recount a merry sounding story of a person with a mad crush. Then we’re treated to some amusing ideas like: “I’ve been dreaming country tunes and love songs, but when I try to write them down I never can remember” with prominent fiddle and dobro on “Country Tunes and Love Songs,” with vocals contributions by Jamie and Kellen Coffis. Then ”Never Got Married” launches into banjo whirlwinds, and picks a frenzied tune about a couple who never did get married even though they raised a child together.
“Spirits” is a pleasant addition with guests the Rainbow Girls creating evocative backing vocals. And Hot Buttered Rum really gets down with songs like “The One That Everyone Knows,” which is well worth a listen for its 8-minute super hip, pulsing jam beats. And the album ends with the really groovy “The Deep End,” which was co-written by Keefe, Yates, Zach Gill and Dan Lebowitz, who also lends electric guitar to this one: “by the time I get to the deep end, I’m gonna be walking to a deeper beat,” with its funky beat and deep low vocals. Check it out, here. https://www.hotbutteredrum.net/
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