“Sid Griffin and the Coal Porters, a proper band with albums and tours and a fiddle.” The Guardian, Laura Barton’s Back Page column, Friday July 18, 2008
The Coal Porters are an exciting and dynamic bluegrass combo with a DYNAMITE LIVE ACT featuring Carly Frey – fine fiddle and vocals; Dick Smith - ace banjo and vocals; Sid Griffin - vocals, mandolin, harmonica and autoharp; Andrew Stafford, doghouse bass & lawsuits; Neil Robert Herd guitar, sporran and vocals.
Meet the Coal Porters:
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Durango is a career-defining release from the ever popular Coal Porters who are taking their Bluegrass inspired oeuvre to even wider horizons. This enhanced CD includes a mini documentary about the band.
The album was produced by the legendary Ed Stasium, (Ramones, Phil Spector, Belinda Carlisle, The Smithereens, Gladys Knight, Mick Jagger, Jeff Healey) and recorded in Colorado USA April 2009 via the ‘Basement Tapes’ style with the musicians playing live and the band all looking at each other as they played…not a soul separated by glass or partitions.
Guest artists on the record are Peter Rowan, who sang and played guitar on his song “Moonlight Midnight”, and Tim O’Brien who played mandolin on “Roadkill Breakdown”.
Formed in Los Angeles during the last century, as so many things were, the Coal Porters were originally an electric act centred around ex-Long Ryder Sid Griffin, author of the Long Ryders 1985 hit single “Looking For Lewis And Clark”. Read on…
NEWS FLASH: the August issue of SPIN magazine in the USA has State Of Our Union by the Long Ryders as the 6th coolest/most influential “cowpunk” LP of all time on page 86 & there is a fine Sid radio interview about his new book on Dylan at 410media.com
Sid & his work have recently been discussed on BBC Radio Two (Radcliffe-Maconie show, July 30, 9:30GMT) and in both Variety AND Rolling Stone! Check these links: Variety and Rolling Stone.
Durango has been such a success that after knockin’ ‘em dead at SxSW the Coal Porters are now playing both the Americana Festival in Nashville this Sept and Folk Alliance in Feb 2011 in Memphis. And Durango is of course the fourth and best “alt-bluegrass” album by ex-Long Ryder Sid Griffin’s outfit, The Coal Porters. Mojo, Uncut and Q gave it four star reviews! Featuring the amazing fiddle of Carly Frey, the banjo of Europe’s best five-string picker Dick Smith, the songs and mandolin of author/broadcaster Sid Griffin as well as the witty songs of Scotland’s fine guitarist Neil Robert Herd ’tis no wonder Durango is one of the choice musical highlights of the year.
Produced by the great Ed Stasium (Ramones, Smithereens, Jeff Healey Band, Belinda Carlisle, etc., etc.) the album features two key guest appearances: the first being Tim O’Brien who plays a wild mandolin solo on Roadkill Breakdown and the second being Peter Rowan who duets with Miss Frey on his own song Moonlight Midnight. This is the sound of a bluegrass Clash, of a Bill Monroe for the 21st century, of a folk Goddess, two ex-punks, an Americana founder and …errr…a London lawyer making the best music of not just their careers but their lives. Read what the critics have already said about Durango:
“Griffin’s breakneck bluegrass band has made the album of their career”
**** (four stars) Q magazine
“a feast of highly crafted ensemble playing with the odd virtuoso turn”
**** (four stars)Uncut
“the audio equivalent of a feel-good movie”
**** (four stars) Mojo
“a wonderful achievement by a band that is going from strength to strength”
**** (four stars) Country Music People
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Durango, the new record from The Coal Porters has been receivng some great reveiws, here are a couple of them;
The album was produced by the legendary Ed Stasium, (Ramones, Phil Spector, Belinda Carlisle, The Smithereens, Gladys Knight, Mick Jagger, Jeff Healey) and recorded in Colorado USA April 2009 via the ‘Basement Tapes’ style with the musicians playing live and the band all looking at each other as they played…not a soul separated by glass or partitions.
