Reviews

CD review - Bad Season

The Acoustic Mining Company is a young band on the Colorado music scene featuring Jeff Ames on guitar and vocals, Kurt Hunsinger on banjo and vocals, Terry Martin on mandolin and Roy Fawcett on bass and vocals. All eleven selections on the disc are original songs produced by the band. This is the second project from this band based out of the Denver area.

The CD starts out with the title track of the album, which is a tune with a nice hook written and sung by Jeff Ames that showcases some fine picking by Ames and Kurt Hunsinger.

I was first impressed by the live feel of the recording as well as the sonic quality of the instruments and the overall mix. The microphone choice and placement to the instruments, especially guitar, brought out the subtleties of each instrument and came across as professional and thought out, so kudos to John Macy studios where the album was recorded and mixed.

Ames and Hunsinger prove themselves to be proficient players on their respective instruments and seem to have a strong musical connection between them. They both share the songwriting responsibilities of the album with five to the credit of Ames and six to Hunsinger. Their vocal deliveries throughout are heart-felt and soulful.

Although all the songs are melodically and harmonically interesting and also catchy, some of the lyrics, on the other hand, were hard to follow. Despite that, I will say that The Acoustic Mining Company has a distinctive, unique sound to their songwriting and arranging that stands out against other bands who have an over-polished, stale, "we've heard that before" quality. They have a fresh, neo-acoustic grassy approach that will certainly be enjoyed and remembered by listeners in the west. It reminds me of bands like Yonder Mountain or New Grass Revival.

There is an abundance of solo sections in each song passed between guitar, banjo and mandolin which added to the live feel of the album but also distracted me at times from the picture they were trying to paint with the song. It seemed to me that this kind of arranging would lend itself better to an actual live show than a recording meant for retail and radio play. Without the visual aspect of the interplay of each instrumentalist as they switched solos, some of the songs got lost in the translation.

I would like to again stress to the reader how Acoustic Mining Company surpasses imitation on this disc with their exclusive sound and presentation. They continue the notion that colorado is a melting pot of all styles of american music, a state that is known for turning out some very individual bands.

These are just my own opinions of this young band so I encourage you to pick up some of their music and make your own. This was my first time hearing The Acoustic Mining Company and if they can outlive the average life span of a band then I will see and hear them again, I'm sure of it.

Taylor Sims
Pow'r Pickin'
March 2010