’Music Review’
THE DAMBUSKERS

Traditional folk music (thats 'traditional' as in guitars, fiddles and bodhrans et al) gets a bad rep from large sections of the uneducated public. With preconceptions of deeply earnest beard wearers in baggy jumpers chuffing on about ’hey nonnies’ and such like with a well placed finger in the ear and a real ale in hand. Such a casual disrespect would undervalue centuries of real ’peoples music’ that has filtered down the ages since Saxon times. It would also be ignorance to be unaware that folk music, both traditional and modern is one of the fastest growing (or I should say resurgent) genres of this decade with Radio 2 heavily spreading the gospel and artists and festivals popping up like a rash all over the UK and Ireland.

So in stride The Dambuskers from North Devon ( I will try and resist the temptation to use an ’ooh arr’ at this point....oh bugger) who I suppose would best be described as the heavy rock of traditional folk. They play upbeat, bounce along, in your face folk with a capital ’F’. No apologetic froth & bubble minstrels these. Sure there’s fiddles and bodhrans, but the songs are invariably about drinking, fighting and f... ahem...fair maidens and there’s definitely an absence of holed knitwear or shaggy beards dunking in tankards of ’Bishops Gusset’.

On their Myspace you have a selection live  tracks which is probably one of the best environments to appreciate this band. You can almost smell the beer and feel the footstomping in the room marshalled by their very own Lemmy, Steve Ruffe. With songs like ’Drink down the moon’ and ’Whiskey in the jar’ (yes, that one) and the bouncing ’I’ll tell me ma" you will get good fun, rollocking trad folk played with gusto and verve. Its infectious, steeped in history and for my money should be encouraged out of the West country pubs and more into the mainstream to show some of the home recording, laptop & songwriting software geeks what they’re missing, and where they come from. 

Review by Drumhead

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