After two independently produced and recorded projects, Pert Near Sandstone set out to make a different kind of album. They wanted to capture the raw, live, old-time sound they have developed over the past few years, with the elegant quality found at Wild Sound Studios in N.E. Minneapolis. The result is a unique album for Pert Near and an important addition to today’s thriving roots revival.
Out On A Spree is a selection of traditional songs picked up while touring around the country. Some worked up around a campfire or living room jams, others learned in the van crossing the landscape. Some are sweet and lowdown with a sparkling grittiness, while others have the intensity of a highballing freight train pulling out of a
hell shed! This is Pert Near’s homage to old-time music, a fresh vista on a much traversed path.
As folk musicians, Pert Near embraces the opportunity to voice this material for a new audience and a new generation. That is half the craft, and the reason why these songs have endured all these years. Pert Near shows that these traditional songs are not artifact to be viewed in a museum, but a continually evolving organism to be interacted with and experienced. This is music where style and sonic effect are equally or more important than being flashy — in other words, dancing music! With Out On A Spree, Pert’ Near Sandstone demonstrates the character and drive to bring stringband music well into the new millennium.
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