The Horsenecks

I’ll begin this review by taking a wild guess that Quarantine Happy Hour was responsible for growing the reputation of the Horsenecks by leaps and bounds. Or was it just me? Because the Facebook phenomenon of QHH introduced me to the wonderful music of Gabrielle Macrae and Barry Southern of Portland, Oregon. Begun on April 6, 2020, by the duo, QHH was an online concert series with a different artist featured every day. As of this writing, that’s roughly 442 shows, give or take a few. They even took it on the road to Weiser, Idaho, where they broadcast to the world from a tailgate at Stickerville. The series was a lifeline for the old-time community, putting tips in our pockets, and it became a place to come together every day, enjoy the excellent music, and have fun in the comments thread.

But I digress. We are here to discuss the third album from the Horsenecks, released in December of 2020 on Tiki Parlour Recordings. Surely, they’ve taken on the mission of Foghorn in making kick-ass fiddle and three-finger banjo the defining sound of the Portland old-time scene. This became crystal clear to me when I stumbled on a video of the duo playing on stage with Kevin Sandri and Brian Bagnonas, the former Foghorn rhythm section, and raising the roof in the process. But while fiddle tunes are the heart and soul of this music, and the Horsenecks bring their tunes with gusto, they have so much more to offer on this recording.

All tracks on this record are compelling, but Gabrielle’s originals stand out by being rooted in tradition and touching on a personal level. The title track is a case in point, where high lonesome banjo and fiddle play behind harmonies as good as any, and a melody and a story that could have erupted from the ground of a Kentucky meadow like fiddleheads in the spring. The duo managed to keep this playlist endlessly interesting with a diversity of instruments, sources, and arrangements. “Buck Dancer’s Choice” sounds at first like solo fingerstyle guitar, but wait—is that the lively patting of leather on wood by the feet of a buckdancer as well? The liner notes are detailed and thorough, and from them we learn that some of the settings arose from the inspirations of both archival sources and modern covers of the same piece. Extra points allotted here for going beyond the archives and throwing in their own modern take on the older stuff. We find references to the obscure and the notorious, including Frank Proffitt, the Kershaw Brothers, Sam McGee, Dwight Lamb, Alan Lomax, Tim O’Brien, Taj Mahal, and Melvin Wine. What’s not to love on that list?

In some ways, the Horsenecks span the Atlantic with a reputation that has grown on both sides of the pond. Barry Southern came from Liverpool originally, while Gabrielle comes from Oregon and honed her chops by living for a time in North Carolina. Every town that has a thriving trad scene always has a few artists who are the foundation of the community, and the Horsenecks have proven to be a part of that in Portland. We have them to thank as well for keeping the flame alive online during the dark days of the lockdown.