If you’ve been tuning in to W&H with any kind of regularity over the past few years, you can’t have failed to notice the sheer wealth of Canadian-based Roots-related talent springing to our attention. At times, it’s been all we can do to keep up with it.
Into 2012, the new Canadian releases keep coming, and still the quality bar remains high. This time, we’re off to British Columbia with VIPER CENTRAL, whose third album ‘Thump & Howl’ is set to roll with a lengthy UK and Irish tour in support. Despite their ‘group’ identity, VC is actually more of a collective with considerable pedigree to draw upon. There's diversity too: Guitarist Steve Charles has a background in jazz and Latino styles, not to mention playing a key role in Vancouver’s theatre community. Kathleen Nesbit has Métis roots and has sung all across Canada. Mandolin man Mark Vaughan is a student of old time musical styles and has composed film scores, while pedal steel/ Dobro player Tim Tweedale has done sessions with the highly-regarded likes of Sarah MacDougall and Headwater.
With such a melting pot to draw upon, it’s no surprise that ‘Thump & Howl’ throws plenty of (enjoyable) curveballs. Sure, old-time workouts (the Celtic-tinged ‘Drops of Brandy’, the traditional Métis tune ‘Red River Jig’) feature, along with recognisable bluegrass-style tunes (the sprightly ‘Captain’ wouldn’t be out of place in the Foghorn Trio’s repertoire), but they’re only a small part of what Viper Central achieve here.
For starters, the mixing and matching of instruments suggests that these folks are comfortable in taking risks. With pedal steel, slide guitar and Dobro often featuring prominently, tracks such as ‘Redwolf’ and the ominous ‘Come Round My Lonesome Ones’ (which has a touch of Uncle Tupelo’s ‘Satan, Your Kingdom Is Coming Down’ about it) are as much in touch with the Mississippi Delta as the Canadian Prairie. Death’s shadow also hovers menacingly over the ‘Gallows Pole’-style folk-blues ‘Hanging Ground’ and while ‘The Donkeyliner’s Waltz’ may superficially resemble traditional bluegrass, its all-too-vivid tale of tragedy among the lumbering camps of Northern Ontario (“throw all caution to the wind and risk the fires of Hell”) is truly sombre.
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Elsewhere, the moody introspection is leavened somewhat. Kathleen Nisbet’s ‘A Northern Midwife’ (“bring your healing hands...bring my baby down, slowly slowly”) is a vivid celebration of new life, while the redemptive ‘Saskatchewan’ yearns for simpler times where the people can fill their glasses and “make music ‘til dawn.” The title track develops this sense of community further. It’s a spirited, rockabilly-inspired tribute to an old-time Vancouver music joint (literally a former chicken coop!) where Loretta Lynn was first discovered and it’s the perfect vehicle for Nisbet’s feisty voice.
Just to hammer the point home that ‘Thump & Howl’ takes a wholly different slant on traditional bluegrass, they also steep Bill Monroe’s ‘The One I Love’ in loss and longing, but by then Viper Central have made it clear that they have the belief, versatility and sonic firepower to re-shape traditional styles as they see fit. Not only does their love of this music ensure ‘Thump & Howl’ is an exhilarating listen, but their desire to stretch out also bodes extremely well for the future.
Viper Central online
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