Hackensaw Boys

Hackensaw Boys are more than a band, they’re a family. This is quite literally the case on the band’s new record, simply titled 'Hackensaw Boys'. For the first time, the ever-rotating band lineup features a second generation Hackensaw—founder David Sickmen’s son Jonah on the homemade “charismo”—bringing the cooperative-style camaraderie of the group full circle. Since forming in Charlottesville, Virginia just before the “folk big bang” of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', Hackensaw Boys have set a trailblazing path for the future of roots music. Their riotous, toe-tapping roots sound, high octane live shows and singular, clackety “charismo” swing helped pioneer a new direction for stringbands at the turn of the 21st century. The group’s new album 'Hackensaw Boys' is a synthesis of this rich experience in both life and music, and finds David Sickmen’s sweet and salty songwriting shining more brightly than ever before. His songs here, such as the literary “Mary Shelley” or country waltz duet “My Turn,” are microstories almost cinematic in effect, delivered affectingly with Sickmen’s distinctive and familiar rasp. Rounded out by a rollicking Dylan cover (“All I Really Want To Do”) and a blistering old-time fiddle breakdown, 'Hackensaw Boys' is chock full of classic, catchy Hackensaw sounds while achieving a new level of unapologetic honesty and vulnerability. Not many bands survive this long with their souls intact.