American roots music in Scotland.
From the 1600s Scots emigrants have made a lasting contribution to the music of Appalachia. This album sounds firmly established in that tradition. Sociograss must surely come from somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains? Scots they may be, but these ones are a bluegrass band based in Edinburgh. With their fiery solos and harmonies that tug the heartstrings, Sociograss have clearly immersed themselves in many other strands of roots music such as old-time, early country, western swing and even hints of jazz. A mix of youthful enthusiasm and a sensitive appreciation of the history of their music make Sociograss worth investigating.
Sociograss are not all Scottish. On a visit from his home in Philadelphia guitarist and vocalist Tim Leslie came across the emerging Edinburgh roots scene. Out of bands Wire and Wool and Auld Reekie String Band emerged Sociograss who with Leslie are fiddlers Ben Errington and Alex Riach, Mark Hand on mandolin, James Wright on banjo and bassist James Hall.
Describing themselves as “a rough and rowdy collective of musicians brought together under the love of American roots” Sociograss are great entertainers in the Bowlers Rest pub in Leith where they hold regular jams. The album’s title, ‘Made It All Up’ suggests spontaneity but it can also mean originality. What comes across loud and clear is that this not just music for a good knees-up as Sociograss delve deep into their roots.
Named after another hostelry where Sociograss ply their trade, opener ‘Mousetrap Rag’ is a warm piece of jazz that says come on in. The jaunty fiddle line and energetic banjo promise a good time. “I’m going to the Mousetrap baby/ You know I’m gonna stay all night/ Playing in a bluegrass band on a Thursday night”. Sociograss know how to have fun as ‘We Get High’ testifies. Fiddle and banjo give each other more space to do as the title says. Who can deny the pleasure of, “We can sing, we can play/ Save the end for another day”? Pure bluegrass propels the ferocious pace of ‘Henderson Street Breakdown’. All strings vie with each other celebrating, “I’m back in Leith and I don’t know where to start”. This all sounds pure Appalachia but it is really somewhere along Leith Walk.
If the pub is their natural habitat and they can lift the dourest mood Sociograss have a deadly serious side as they vent their ire at inequality and the plight of those with little chance. Old time, jazz and bluegrass lay down a menacing backdrop to the blunt message behind ‘Dirty Business’, “Go ahead and trade it, answer the phone/ Only to hurt the poor and break up their homes”. No fans of the corporate way Sociograss pledge, “We’re not the ones to carry this torch”. The title track is a lament, possibly more so now, with its reference to “The orange man will be exposed”. A gentler picking banjo flits around wistful harmonies in ‘Merry Comedown’, that compares the price paid for good times to simpler childhood pleasures.
In contrast to Leslie and Wright’s short pithy songs that pull no punches the extended jams are the album’s highlights. The fiddle starting ’Squirrelly Riders’ sounds like a call to arms as the others pile in and off they go. Solos are swapped at breakneck speed until they slow down, almost to a stop when a rasp of “I know you rider gonna miss me when I’m gone” hurls the listener by the scruff of the neck far from underneath Arthur’s Seat deep into the Appalachians.
Sociograss have indeed ‘Made It All Up’ and if they managed that as they went along then well done. But their spontaneity and lightness of touch, their fast and furious jamming is authentic, original and the product of a deep love and respect for their blend of Scottish and Appalachian roots. Who’s for another round?
