Reviews …That
the Carnies make all this go down like a Saturday night house party gone
into overdrive is the real charm of their debut album. The songs
themselves are all of a piece and listening to the eerie but still
strangely comforting "Hunter's Moon," the explosive "Paper Outlaw," the
wild, fiddle-driven "Bone Man" and the truly epic ten-minute title track
"Where the Heather Don't Grow" is a bit like stepping through the looking
glass. Things seem normal, but they decidedly aren't. Recorded by Jim Roll
in his Ann Arbor living room, Where the Heather Don't Grow has an
infectious and ragged immediacy about it, and while some bizarre and
twisted stories are flying by in the lyrics, it's all so vibrant and full
tilt that one can't help but smile. Dark stories never played so
bright. Read the full review
by Steve Leggett at allmusic.com
***
Black Jake and
Carnies "Where the Heather Don't Grow" is now available as a full
helpin' on
CD Baby or in bite
sized chunks on iTunes.
Eat it up quick or Grover will get it.
Simply said,
Ypsilanti’s Black Jake and the Carnies get down. With a new album under
their belt, the band blends elements of americana, bluegrass, and punk
into a unique mixture that they call “crabgrass.” Banjos, mandolins, jugs,
train whistles, washboards and saws are no strangers to the Black Jake
set, whose sound is something of a late night dirt road party on the Day
of the Dead, only no one knows its the Day of the Dead. Instead, it’s
Uncle Jim’s birthday ... and Uncle Jim is one fun, rowdy drunk.