Troublesome Creek

FAST AS TIME CAN TAKE ME

“For those of us schooled in old-time music long ago, but now relocated further from the banks of the mainstream, a fond look back can be triggered in a moment. My wife and I had more than a few moments with this excellent offering from Troublesome Creek—we laughed, we got lumps-in-the-throat, we danced—well, we considered dancing...A band that can do all this could only be considered “troublesome” if one were at the desperate point of embracing some music-hating strain of ultra-fundamentalism.

Start with the fiddle, of course. Eastern Kentucky-born Rick Martin, a devoted student of Brad Leftwich’s in Bloomington, Indiana in the ’80s is, like his mentor, a power-hitter possessed of both the requisite snappy bow and fingers well-tuned to the old music…

The singing here, mostly duets from guitarist Dick Harrington and bassist Lorie Lichtenwalner, is first-rate. So good is it, in arrangements tight and varied that I sometimes had to restrain an impatient finger from fast forwarding…to check out the next vocal. Harrington is a clear and most soulful lead and Lichtenwalner a resonant alto that would surely get a thumbs’ up from Sara Carter herself. Their harmonies, simply spot-on, are all you’d ask for in this music, from the warm and comfortable. Carter Family numbers (Lonesome Pine Special,” and “River or Jordan”) to the flesh-pricking open modality of the riveting Texas Gladden ballads (“Gypsy Davy” and “The Three Babes”).

Need one more good reason to go get this compelling CD? Well, two-and-a-half words: the banjo player. Bluegrass veteran Steve Arkin still dons the picks now and then, but has polished his clawhammering to a high shine for the lion’s share of Troublesome Creek’s repertoire. Appropriately up in the mix, Arkin’s adroit playing achieves that most rare combo of beautiful, intricate melody and absolute pedal-to-the-floor drive—he is every bit the wind in the sails of this band.”

Fast as Time Can Take Me is will-engineered by Bobby Read… It has my highest recommendation.  --Pete Sutherland, Old Time Herald, Fall 2005

"Composed of four veteran musicians with distinctly differing backgrounds and a shared passion for hard-driving old time music, Troublesome Creek String Band is an exciting ensemble whose continuing delight in traditional forms is very palpable on their debut. While at first they may sound like a relatively orthodox take on the old time stringband tradition, closer listening reveals Troublesome Creek to be blessed with both a solid foundation in classic values of traditional music and their own unique abilities and personalities. At the forefront are the duo vocals of guitarist Dick Harrington and bassist Lorie Lichtenwalner. In a genre marked by (if not defined by) a certain vocal shakiness, their blend is thrillingly precise. They handle closer, brother-duo style harmony of songs like 'Midnight on the Stormy Deep'

and the more open, modal sounds of 'Adieu False Heart' with equal aplomb. Fiddler Rick Martin and banjoist Steve Arkin provide forward momentum and texture with sensitivity and intensity. Arkin, a former bluegrass banjo player, pulls out his finger picks and, in decidedly un-old time fashion, adds some Scruggs-style picking to 'River of Jordan' and 'The Ballad of Cole Younger.' The combination works so well that one wonders why more old time bands don't do it. The variety and depth demonstrated here make Troublesome Creek a welcome addition to the flourishing old time scene." --Brad San Martin, Country Standard Time

"[Five Stars] Flat out, no questions, no doubt about it, this is a one-hundred-percent perfect old-timey string band album. The picking is understated and delightful, the vocals have just the right mix of antiquity and good humor, the song selection tilts towards the traditional and the pacing of the set is flawless; I could listen to this record for days on end and never grow tired...If I sound effusive, that's because I am. These folks--banjoist Steve Arkin, fiddler Rick Martin, guitarist Dick Harrington and bassist Lorie Lichtenwalner--don't make a big deal out of being one of the best damn bands you'll ever hear; they just play with an obvious love of the music and let the tunes take care of everything else. They tip their hats towards eminent old timers like Brad Leftwich and Dirk Powell (Martin studied fiddling with guidance from Leftwich) and they do their mentors proud. Some purists might find these performances too smooth and not 'bent' enough, but I think it all sounds really fine. An entertaining, accessible album, drenched in tradition, but very much vibrant and alive in the here and now. Highly recommended."

--Joe Sixpack, Amazon.com

"Troublesome Creek is an outstanding band [with] excellent fiddling; tight instrumentals, and strong vocals--this is a band that serves it up hot!"--Brad Leftwich

"Unlike many bands on the scene these days, when so many talented young performers are finding their way to old-time music, Troublesome Creek consists of, well, old-timers: four musical veterans--actually, middle-aged--around long enough to have absorbed the tradition into bone and bloodstream. While thoroughly traditional in their approach, they sound anything but redundant. This is old Southern folk music which feels as vital as it did a century ago when Appalachian highlands and lowlands echoed with sounds of fiddles, banjos, and guitars.

You hear it on the very first cut as Rick Martin tears into the medley 'Yell in the Shoats/Piney Ridge,' a bold, full-bodied tone dancing out of his fiddle. Most of the instrumental pieces on the album (every one a gem), are native to Martin's Kentucky. The songs draw from a wider range of sources, including the Anglo-Celtic-Northern European tradition chronicled in Prof. Francis James Child's influential late-19th-century collection The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: the ubiquitous 'Gypsy Davy' (albeit in distinctive form) and 'The Three Babes' (aka 'The Wife of Usher's Well'). There is a wonderfully affecting reading of 'I'm Going to the West,' believed to have originated in Alabama in the 1830s, though the title speaks to the restless, determining experience of all of early America, resonating even into our own time in our modern, no-longer-quite-so-young nation.

Besides Martin, the band members are Steve Arkin (banjo), Dick Harrington (guitar, vocals), and Lori Lichtenwalner (bass, vocals). All have been playing old-time music and bluegrass all of their adult lives.

The generous 26 selections are intelligently chosen and expertly handled. Much of the material is new to my ear, but even the more often covered songs - 'Danville Girl' and 'Little Sadie,' for two - are set in larger arrangements than the solo treatments on the source recordings (Dock Boggs and Clarence Ashley in this instance). 'When First Unto This Country' and 'The Ballad of Cole Younger,' two authentic, unsentimental ballads of frontier criminality, get particularly compelling readings.

Let's put it this way: If the old mountain sounds are to your taste, Fast as Time Will Take Me will take its time departing your CD player.

If that's a definition of 'troublesome,' let me be troubled. In fact, the Troublesomes are serving up something like sheer timeless joy." --Jerome Clark, Bluegrass Works, 07/13/2005

Absolutely the best old time string band CD I have ever heard. Not only are the fiddle and banjo fiery and exciting, but the song selection, vocals, driving energy and sound quality are as good as it gets. No scratchy, out of tune fiddling here. Both the male and female lead singers are great and their harmonies are as good as a bluegrass band, with some nice arranging also.” – Harvey Reid, list of favorite CDs, woodpecker.com

Judging by the liner notes, this quartet knows everybody on the old-time music festival scene. Their super tight arrangements, drive and repertoire reflect this, with many songs learned from other old-time musicians. These guys respect the past, but add their own thing. Some nice out-of-the-way tunes can be found here, such as "Sweet Marie," from Kentucky and Carter Family gems like "River of Jordan." Good playing. - Paul Gartner, The Gazz

It is rare-and very exciting-to find an old-time band today that has put it all together: great selection of material, fine singing and top flight, dynamic instrumental work. This band, based in Central Virginia, is neither a group of "old-timers" past their prime, nor a young revival

band: the 4 members are middle-aged musicians who love the sounds & styles of the Appalachian Mountain region in days past. They sing and play with authority and a rare combination of skill, taste, humor and good judgment. About half of the 23 tracks feature solid vocals, most of them handled by Dick Harrington (formerly of Afton Mt. String Band) and Lorie Lichtenwalner. Rick Martin, whose strong fiddling leads the group, traces his childhood to Troublesome Creek in Eastern Kentucky (Perry County), though he learned to play the music after moving away from his birthplace. He has made it a point to try to learn some of the great tunes from Eastern Kentucky the way the great fiddlers of yesteryear played them. He is supported by some fine banjo picking from none other than Brooklyn-born Steve Arkin, whose strong work here includes both old-time and Bluegrass style (mostly the former). Those old enough to have seen Bill Monroe's band in the 1960s may remember seeing Arkin as a Bluegrass Boy in 1964. Monroe was quoted as calling Arkin "the best banjo player [he] ever had for backup work". Beautifully sequenced, this is a great album that we can endorse without reservation. – Dave Freeman, County Sales Newsletter #273