Tarbox Ramblers

Taking listeners to a place where primitive blues, country stomps and gospel come together in powerful and unexpected combinations, The Ramblers are left-field traditionalists whose electrifying live performances have earned the band critical acclaim and a national following. Driven by the slide guitar and haunting vocals of bandleader Michael Tarbox, the band's musicality and immediacy put them at the forefront of the contemporary roots scene.

The Tarbox Ramblers' CDs on the Rounder label have drawn rave reviews from Rolling Stone, NPR's "All Things Considered," MOJO, The New Yorker and many more.  The group's debut album was cited as among the year's best by The Washington Post, Amazon.com and The BBC Critics' Poll.

A famously fierce live band, The Tarbox Ramblers are described in a Washington Post concert review as "a force of nature" that "demands to be seen again." Robert Plant came across the group at a Boston show and subsequently asked The Ramblers to appear - along with Alison Krauss on fiddle - as his backing band for a performance at the Rock Hall of Fame.

Traditional music is a constant touchstone for the Tarbox Ramblers, who up the ante with a powerfully rhythmic approach to everything they do.  The group's sound has the lived-in, honest quality that resonates through all great traditional music; their special gift is an uncanny ability to communicate the fine line between joy and darkness.

Here's The All Music Guide's description of the group's recent CD: "... The Tarbox Ramblers go down into the deep reaches of their frontman's collective American Gothic psyche, and dredge up the ghosts, the faded photographs, the myths and texts of a time that may never have existed in the popular consciousness. Its very rawness contains starkly beautiful textures that are drenched in sepia-toned images, and black and white newsreels from the focal point of the ravaged human heart...  this is a slash and burn affair that holds its secrets close, and offers its dirty treasures abundantly."