The Starline Rhythm Boys don’t travel outside their home state of Vermont very often, so this is the first opportunity for many of their fans to hear what they sound like live. These Boys can deliver, no question about it. 23 songs recorded at one of their favorite little honky tonks, Charlie-O’s World Famous, located right downtown in Montpelier, the Vermont State Capitol. Includes mostly obscure covers. Definitely not a re-hashing of their prior three CD releases. Includes one brand new Billy Bratcher original written especially for this release entitled, you guessed it, Charlie-O’s. Liner notes by Bill Kirchen.
This release comes hot on the heels of “Red’s Place,” their Cow Island debut which was voted 2007 Album of the Year on the Freeform American Roots Chart.
“…one hour and fourteen minutes of pure, unadulterated hard-core Honky-Tonk. It\'s all right here; the tear jerkers, the crowd workers, tales of the new fools on the old stools…” -Bill Kirchen
"Recording this band in this setting was a stroke of genius. Lead guitarist Al Lemery is one of those players you know immediately understands the intricacy of the music; if you want twang, he's got plenty on every song that calls for it, Lemery proves a master of the precise country bend. This record captures that feeling as well as any live country album, ever."
-John Heidt, Vintage Guitar Magazine
"It's entirely fitting that their latest, live record was recorded in a bar they regularly gig...This is a barroom-ready set of originals mixed with a boatload of covers that testify to the band's Saturday-night versatility while offering a whirlwind tour of the honky tonk past, shifting with ease from the vintage roackabilly sound to hardcore honky tonk to that sweet spot between the two, what Wayne Hancock has labeled 'junk joint swing'. This is the sort of live record that leaves you wishing you'd been there."
-Stuart Munro, Country Standard Time Magazine
"These guys, and their label Cow Island, are at the forefront of the current scene for Honky Tonk Music. This is a group you shouldn't miss, and a label that seems to hit a home run every at bat. It's good to hear a complete show exactly as they present them on their home ground!"
-Marc Bristol, Blue Suede News
"Their three previous albums were as much about slap bass player Billy Bratcher's remarkable country song writing as the Burlington, Vermont trios mastery of the idiom, but this time they downplay the original material they've already recorded in favor of covers that demonstrate their abilities as a rowdy fire-em-up on a Saturday night bar and, tearing up a joint in Montpelier, Vt. Superbly produced by Sean Mencher....the kind of band that, in an ideal world, would be playing in the good saloon in every single town, but in the real world are very hard to find, even in Texas."
-John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music Magazine.
"The Starline Rhythm Boys put on display the sorts of covers only musicians who know their country music history would have picked. Call the Starline Rhythm Boys my kind of outfit. They make music whose natural habitat is the barroom and the dance floor, and they do it with heart, sould, aplomb, and chops. You'll be up and smiling in no time, on your way to a place where there's plenty of dim lights, thick smoke, and loud, loud music."
-Jerome Clark, Rambles.net
"A band whose music and presentation is rooted in the heyday of C&W, the latest from this tight and hoppin' trio brings the listener to SRB central. At 23 tracks, a big gulp of Starline Rhythm Boys in the perfect setting, a crowded and rowdy barroom. This live recording offers the band the opportunity to showcase its excellent taste in covers. Proof positive of this trio's true honky tonk pedigree."
-Dan Ferguson, Boudin Barndance Radio Show
Read more...