Music INSIGHT
by Benjamin Nunnally
S
eldom does a banjo turn up on stage
in Calhoun County, let alone a real,
live spoon player, clacking rhythms
by slapping silverware against hands,
knees and shoulders. Add a kazoo to the
mix and it feels like wandering into the
wrong century.
But the Rattlesnake Rattlers make it work.
They’re an eight-player band of vagabond
musicians, some from ’round here and one
as far as New York City, stomping along to
Robert Johnson tunes from the 1930s, hollerin’ to a crowd that hollers back for more,
decked in Appalachian finery and maybe
just a bit tipsy from whatever’s on tap. It’s
good-natured rowdiness, the kind of front
porch caterwauling that anybody could get
32
into.
“It’s approachable to all different kinds of listeners and ages,” said Gillian McCary, fiddle
player for the band. “It’s not polarizing music; it brings everyone together.”
The band’s been around Calhoun County for
about a year as an early incarnation, formed
by guitarist Micah Dempsey and banjo/kazooist Kevin Brown as a casual jam band.
The musical style, informed by Brown’s love
of jug band music and early American folk,
lent itself to adding members as appropriate musicians were found. The pair were
soon joined by local musicians McCary, Jody
Wood on guitar, Brad Dempsey on mandolin, piano player Andrew Harper, upright
December 2014
INSIGHT