Album Notes

Born from the Minnesota folk-country blend, Rusty String Quartet embraces the vocal harmonies and rock-country style of Minnesota. RSQ infuses pop melodies and rhythms over clever lyrics that detail the travails of their sometimes-chaotic lives. The Rusty String Quartet sound doesn't easily fall into a simple category of rock, country, folk, or pop, and often leaves audience members wondering how exactly to describe what they've just seen. The songwriting style has been described as "honest" and "cinematic," reflecting the lives of those who never quite had a place to call home and yet still belong somewhere among us.

The RSQ debut CD, entitled "Barnica," was recently released in April 2002, with stories of living in the Midwest interwoven throughout the release. This independent, 10-song release is a medley of music capturing the spirit of the world as RSQ sees it, a country-fried gothic hootenanny.

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Review of "Barnica" - Taken from the weekly magazine "Pulse of the Twin Cities" - May 8th, 2002 (http://www.pulsetc.com)
Review by: Paul Dickinson
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Country fried gothic jams with a killer lead guitar. These local boys have captured a beast of burden and they plan on riding it. The distortion falls in lovely little pieces as it trickles out of the amplifiers. My favorite track is "Best Friends." Here the musicians really get to show off and the melodies really start to soar. RSQ has quite the cinematic take on the tragedy of humankind, with many country rock themes, such as drinking, loneliness, car trouble and jail time unfolding across a landscape of twangy guitars, howling harmonica, and snappy drums. "Barnica" is a shrink-wrapped little hootenanny, ready to party all night long.