Hackensaw Boys Release 'Charismo'; Play Brooklyn April 27th

(Press Release) For 17 years, The Hackensaw Boys have plowed the asphalt, bringing their raw, gritty version of American roots music to the venues and streets that originally inspired them. Born in Virginia, The Hackensaw Boys have at timesoperated more as a collective than a band, sometimes boasting up to twenty members. What’s kept them together is a burning hot vision of American roots music brought kicking and screaming into a new age, fueled as much by a rowdy punk spirit as by the traditional masters that first inspired them. Now with their new album, Charismo (April 15, 2016 on Free Dirt Records)–their first studio album in almost a decade–The Hackensaw Boys have a new lineup and a new lease on life. Led by founding member, guitarist and songwriter David Sickmen, they’re back on the road with new songs, determined to get their fans back on the dancefloors they remember so well.

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Charismo was recorded in upstate New York with Grammy-award winning producer Larry Campbell (Levon Helm, Bob Dylan, Steep Canyon Rangers) pushing the new lineup to look to their roots. Traditional Appalachian stringband tunes and Delta blues still lay the groundwork as The Hackensaw Boys inject their latest album with a heavy dose of the let-the-good-times-roll spit and vinegar the band has become known for over the years. Charismo’s songs, all written by Sickmen and longtime Hackensaw member Ferd Moyse, are tinged with an attitude of scrappy resilience, spinning tales of everyday struggles and triumphs. The instrumentation of The Hackensaw Boys still points to their origins in Appalachian stringbands, but the fiddle and banjo lines here likely have more in common with the band’s punk roots than they do slavish imitation of bluegrass progenitors. As evidenced in the Hackensaws’ history, their music fit as easily as the backing band for Charlie Louvin as it did in backstage jams on tour with Modest Mouse or the Flaming Lips.
 
Charismo is the album that The Hackensaw Boys’ fans have been waiting for. The songs on this new album are fueled by the dance-all-night spirit of the Appalachian hills they came out of, but point towards the kind of road-weary life experiences that have seen them through every storm sent their way.

April 27th
Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Avenue Brooklyn, NY
6pm Doors/8pm Show
Tickets $10-$12
http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1102655?utm_medium=459899