Don't be put off by the band's name. This is more than your average bluegrass band. Generally I avoid bluegrass on this blog because there is already an excellent Irish based blog on bluegrass, I am focusing mainly on americana here and lastly because I am not a huge bluegrass fan. Though sometimes the edges of where these genres meet are often blurred.
Dr. Fox's Old Timey String Band (henceforth referred to as DFOTSB) are a Co. Kerry based bluegrass/americana outfit who specialise in sweet, sentimental old time tunes. The band are a bit of a traditional Irish (or Kerry!) effort in that there are three brothers involved in the band; Fionn, Cormac and Ultan Lavery along with Bryan Corbett. The band formed in early 2009 and has been gigging mainly in Kerry since then. They are starting to headline as well being part of the Puck fair and The Charlie Chaplin festival last year. Their sets are mainly covers (you can get an idea here) including a lovely version of Kids. Lately however, the band have focused on recording some original tracks.
One of the two tracks the band have uploaded to their soundcloud page and my favourite is "Wicked Weave". The song has a lovely waltz pace to it. The chorus is warm vocal harmonies together, the sombre banjo lick and fiddle add to it perfectly. For some reason, maybe it's the chord progression or the chorus, the song sounds to me like a bluegrass Nirvana song. That is no bad thing by the way.
The band cite Old Crow medicine Show as one of their main influences and you can see the influence coming through on these two tracks. Their other original track "Don't You" is a busier, upbeat track. The song is a wistful, melancholic piece of yearning. The song features some great mandolin playing and vocal arrangements although personally I think, the arrangements timing might be a bit off at the start, it still demonstrates the excellent potential these lads have.
The band are on the usual social media outlet, that being Facebook. If you want to catch them live, they are due to appear at the Valentia Isle Festival this coming Sunday. Sure if you are down that direction, be a shame to miss them.
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