By Joshua Espinoza
Attempting to pigeonhole Whitewater Ramble’s sound as conventional bluegrass would be churlish. In their latest album the Fort Collins-based quintet demonstrates versatility by delivering a sound that seeps through the boundaries of traditional bluegrass and spills into the crevices of jazz, funk and jam.
Recorded live at the Zebra Lounge in Bozeman, MT, the album is a collection of cover songs and originals that are nothing short of infectious. The CD’s first track, “Purgatory Shuffle,” opens with blues-tinged instrumentation that tumbles into a fast paced medley of nuanced roadhouse rhythms, thus foreshadowing the whiskey-quaffing, buck-dancing party to come. The following tracks, including adaptations of Stealers Wheel, Michael Jackson and Grateful Dead classics, deftly reconcile bluegrass’ structural conventions with buoyant piano riffs, frenetic finger picking and brazen bass grooves punctuated by hoots and hollers from the crowd.
Like any great jam band, the group is at its best when playing live. And although the tracks were recorded in a crowded nightclub, it’s likely that the pieces would be just as intrinsically raw had they been recorded in a studio, which is perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the band’s noise. The unadorned vocals paired with the foot-stompin’ melodies make Live from the Big Sky effortlessly visceral and compulsive. And by culling key elements from old-school and new-school styles, the band has accomplished what so many of their contemporaries have failed to do, which is create a sound that is devoid of any discernable genre, yet sympathetic to the ear.
