Why should "A Prairie Home Companion" have all the good music? Why should that be the only place to find quirky, wry, acoustic-based singer/songwriter music played in ensemble by multitalented musicians? Does Garrison Keillor have a corner on odes to St. Paul? Hardly. The inspirations may be obvious, but Erik Brandt's take on that successful national-public "sound" is as fresh as any PHC regular, except the Urban Hillbilly Quartet is much funnier with far more spiritual roots.
Touring indefatigably whenever he can break away from teaching high schoolers words like "indefatigable" as an English teacher for years, Erik Brandt and UHQ are always a delightful discovery for audiences. But the financial realities of indie-hood limit the live, full band experience and that public radio national debut is yet to happen.
Brandt & company have taken the bold move with The A-List of releasing all of their best live material on a single CD. This is no substitute for a face-to-face encounter at a coffee house near you, but the fifteen songs on this disc are their best live numbers and these takes are well produced from a variety of live appearances.
Somebody slip Garrison a copy. Better yet, who is ready to make the UHQ their radio show's house band?
5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2004Reviewed by Ronnie PaynePart of the fun of listening to the Urban Hillbilly Quartet is spotting the musical influences which make up their indefinable and unique sound. The musical threads are multifarious -- country, rock, jazz, blues, folk, Eastern-European, I reckon there's even a hint of Scottish ceilidh band in there; all sewn together seamlessly into something akin to Joseph's many-colored coat perhaps. Look under…Similar sounding releases
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