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MP3 Moon Mountain Ramblers - Live at the Tower
20 MP3 Songs in this album (102:16) !
Related styles: Country: Americana, Folk: String Band, Type: Live Recordings
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Moon Mountain Ramblers
turn the Tower Theatre
into one big dance floor.
Standing room only.
That’s what I thought as
I looked around the Tower
Theatre last Saturday night
a couple songs into the Moon
Mountain Ramblers’ set.
I wasn’t sure if the local eclectic-
roots band had sold out the
venerable downtown venue.
(They had.) But I could tell there
was standing room only.
Never have I seen standing
room put to such good use.
Let’s not even call it standing
room. Dancing room’s more like
it.
The Ramblers, celebrating the
release of their new album “Let
It All Be Good,” played a pitchperfect
2.5-hour set for an enthusiastic
and appreciative crowd
that not only filled the seats in the
Tower’s lower level, but also lined
both aisles and packed the space
in front of the stage with a nonstop
dance party.
It took a few songs for the
throng to warm up, but once it
did, 50 to 100 people shimmied the
night away as the band worked
its way through a well-paced selection
of new and old tunes.
But enough about the crowd.
Let’s talk about the Ramblers.
They were terrific. Their arsenal
of stringed instruments rang
out crisp and clean. The mix
was perfect, with percussionist
Dale Largent complementing
the pickers nicely. Vocally,
the harmonies were shipshape,
and I was surprised by guitarist
Matthew Hyman’s strong voice.
I didn’t realize he’s that good of
a singer.
As for the set list, the band flitted
back and forth between its
favorite styles, from Hyman’s
twangy ballads to bassist Dan
McClung’s jazzgrass instrumentals
to mandolinist Joe Schulte’s
more rock-influenced numbers.
One highlight was my coworker
Jenny Harada’s song
for her brother, Jason, who died
last summer, called “Chasing
The Sun.” I’m sure there were
dry eyes in the house, but they
weren’t mine. Another highlight
was a new Schulte song built on
a weird, ominous groove and featuring
a wicked Largent drum
solo, like old-time music meets
heavy metal. A genre was born
just then, I think: doomgrass.
We also got a raucous cover of
the old Stealers Wheel hit “Stuck
In The Middle,” a perfectly plaintive
version of “Restless,” and
what may be the Ramblers’ new
signature tune, “Let It All Be
Good.” In the latter, when Schulte
sang “You’re dancing to our music
till your toes start to bleed,”
I scanned the wiggly bunch up
front to get a glimpse of life imitating
art.
The two-song encore, with the
whole band unplugged and gathered
around one microphone,
was a particularly fun way to end
a wonderful show.
Indeed, the music was great.
But the best part of the whole
night, for me, was the overwhelming
joy I felt in the Tower
that night.
You could see it in the band’s
wide smiles. You could hear it in
the cheer that went up when the
Ramblers were introduced.
You could feel it in a room full
of folks happy to see a talented
band of locals sell out Bend’s
most prominent indoor stage, in a
room that has rarely hosted local
bands. It was triumphant, if I may
be so bold. It felt like a celebration
not only of the Moon Mountain
Ramblers and their new album,
but also of the potential and possibility
of our local music scene.
There’s a lot of that here. There
are a handful of bands in Bend
that could make a Tower show
work, but I got the sense that a
trail needed blazing, and the right
band had to do it.
It feels a bit like a new door has
opened for local musicians. And I
think only the Ramblers had the key.
Review by Ben Salmon, The Bulletin, Bend, Or
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