So move over Old Crow Medicine Show, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Crooked Still and all you other Americana Bands because there’s some new kids in town! The other day while browsing the Roots Music Report I came across the name Rockin’ Acoustic Circus (RAC) and their new album Lonestar Lullaby one listen to some of the clips from the album sent me to Amazon to download the album and I’ve been listening and marveling at the musicianship since! The six piece band hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma and is lead the band’s musical mentor Rick Morton. Morton has been around the music scene for many years, in 1988 he teamed with Ronnie Dunn (of the famous duo, “Brooks & Dunn”) and they won first place in the national “Marlboro Talent Round-up Contest” held in Nashville, TN. He followed that up in 1989,and toured and played with Ricky Skaggs, George Strait and Kathy Mattea. He was also part of the “Tractors,” whose country music CD sold over 3 million copies.
Morton is the ringmaster for these talented teens, he has been the music teacher for both founding member Sterling Abernathy and Eric Dysart, who he started teaching the fiddle at age eight! Abernathy is an accomplished mandolin player with a couple of contest championships under his belt. Eric Dysart’s fiddling achievements includes being a 3-time Oklahoma State Junior Fiddle Champ and a semi-finalist in the Nashville-based Grand Masters Fiddle Championship. Carson Clemishire has only been playing banjo for four years but he too has earned a first place contest finish. One of the more interesting elements of the band is the cello provided by “bluegrass cellist” Emma Hardin. Emma is a classical cellist, whose wonderful playing is a welcomed addition to the bands sound!. Emma’s brother, Zac Hardin is a classically trained bass player and according to their bio watching him play “is like watching a man wrestle a bear, but kidding aside, that bear is not going to win.”
I enjoyed this album from the opening title track “Lonestar Lullaby” other standout tracks for me include: “Bethany” a great instrumental track!, “Take Me” and “I Gotta Run”, and the Cello Medley which includes “Whiskey Before Breakfast, Jerusalem Ridge and Lee’s Highway Blues” blend into one great piece! Eric’s fiddling and Emma’s cello are great throughout but are particularly outstanding on “Wolf Tone” oh, and they do a great cover of “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” Just go to their Myspace page or Reverbnation or Facebook to check out their music you won’t be disappointed and I’m not the only one who’s been impressed by “their acoustical fused music influenced by bluegrass, folk, country, jazz, classical, and even some rock-n-roll, that makes them an incredible listening experience.” From their website:
The Rockin Acoustic Circus has been selected by Elmore Magazine as one of “11 Artist to Watch in 2011.” The feature will appear in the Jan/Feb print issue.(which is out now!) Elmore Magazine is an American music magazine and covers a variety of genres of American roots music, including jazz, country, rock’n’roll, folk, and blues. The magazine’s tagline is “Saving American Music” – and it is the only national music magazine that guarantees distribution at music and arts festival across the US and Canada.
Here’s a video of the band performing “Steel Rail Blues”