Fool's Grass
- Artist: 7th Day Buskers
- Album released in 2004
- Shubzu Records
- Genres: Acoustic, Bluegrass & Roots, Rock
Songs:
1) Sky Ain't Soft
2) Riding Free
3) The Way It Be
4) Backstage Johnny
5) Prodigal Son
6) Argentina
7) Coming Home Soon
8) Wooden Floor and Stockings
9) No'Dak Special
10) Lat Tin Shoulder
11) Montero Road
12) Devil's Right Hand
13) Oxlip
Back with their signature twang and frenzied fiddles, the 7th Day Buskers once again couple traditional country folk with a contemporary edge. The first track opens with the line "There's a whole mess of things going on between her earrings now," then breaks into a fervent vocal-and-instrumental jam that showcases the five busking at their best. The rest of the album seems repetitious. The musicians are tamer this time around. Gone is the rambunctious, seemingly freestyle instrumentation of their first two releases. No screaming guitars or thundering percussion, just the bare acoustics of fiddles and mandolins. If the vocals were strong, this might be sustainable, but the lead voices are not inspiring. This band could be hot if they found a good singer.
"Argentina," "Montero Road," and "Devil's Right Hand" are entirely instrumental. (No wonder there.)
Though they have scaled back, the band hasn't lost its sense of humor. Rohlf croons an ode to the dreams of a North Dakotan:
"In a well-lit diner / she serves the No'Dak special / I hide out back in the Dumpster / and when she takes the trash out / we'll be high tailing, ass hauling, ball and jackin', jack and ballin'...greased pig speed from this duck-puddle town they call Tuttle / we'll be South Dakota bound."
--- Hometown CD Review 4-7-05