The band name is not a misprint - that's Ventucky with a V, a name originally coined as a slur against the culturally challenged area of Ventura, California (also dubbed Bakersfield by the Sea) but worn here by these old-time country music aficionados as a badge of honour.
The album is described as "a tribute to the music and culture of the farmers, roustabouts and cattlemen that helped grow the city".
VSB are a multi-instrumental quartet formed in 2010 by Matt Sayles who wrote all the songs.
This is their debut album which is released on Sayles' own label.
It is an honest set of songs written from a working class perspective with an implicit distrust of modernity and a reverence for life's simple values.
The River is a song for the homeless and Coming Back partly laments the loss of manufacturing jobs and the crippling effect this has on the lives of ordinary folk.
Even the most light hearted tune, Bug Eyed Betty, is tinged with sadness over the effects of the ravages of time; a tongue in cheek character study of a 'cosmetically maintained' woman who has seen better days : " a real jaw-dropper thirty years back, lit like a fuse and drunk off her ass".
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Sayles is a self confessed history geek and several songs reflect this passion as well as his fascination for disaster stories. There are story songs about a train crash (The Bevil & The Modoc Line), an oil spill (Black Oil) and a shipwreck off Point Arguello, CA (Wreck of the Yankee Blade).
Alongside these are more home-centred tales, an instrumental dedicated to his cat (Fraulein's Joy), a waltz for his late grandmother (Waltz For Eva) and a song about the his family's 'old cabin home' built in the 1950s (Cabin Home).
All are played in an authentic, no frills Bluesgrass style with banjo, fiddle, dobro and mandolin among the most prominent instruments.
This is a warm-hearted collection of tunes that more than does its bit to put Ventura County on California's musical map for all the right reasons.
Philville Records' Website
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