Record Review - Chuck Darwin & the Knuckle Draggers - Poor Man’s Rain

It’s interesting to see how a band within a particular genre can expand and evolve (yes, there are going to be evolution quips in this review. Don’t say you weren’t warned). I first became aware of Chuck & the Draggers when I had just moved to Gettysburg, and they were playing at Ploughmans. I was very new to the Gettyburg music scene and was a bit overwhelmed at the professionalism and skill of this band. I also learned that they were really good guys. Ben even gave me a copy of  “for educational purposes only” after the set.

I admit I didn’t run home and listen to it at the time. Bluegrass-americana-folk isn’t my first club out of the bag when I’m listening at home; I thought of the Draggers as a fun band to see, but not really what I want to listen to in my living room as I’m writing or doing a fret job on a telecaster. That turned out to be a foolish underestimation. Not my first or last.

A few weeks later, one night when I was in the kitchen “reconstructing” the concept of stuffed cabbage in a process not unlike the shit they put Hercules through, I popped the CD in. the production reminded me a lot of the early Violent Femmes albums, which is refreshing after having lived through… you know... the 90s. I ended up doing an even, worse job on the stuffed cabbage (if that was possible), because I kept going back and replaying the songs.

Eventually I gave up, and sat down in the living room with the headphones and just listened to it, no longer distracted by my cabbage incompetence. The recording was purposefully raw, but still clean and well balanced. I was surprised by how engaging David Pickering’s banjo is. I usually find banjo a little annoying in large doses, but not here. It often clashes with the guitar and gets a little garish after a while…but David carries the tune, Ben works around him with the guitar and interjects, and Dean Vaccher lays down a rhythm like the hand of god (or Wyman. Take your pick). Meanwhile, as I continued listening, I could hear Billy Jones weaving around them all with his harps, filling and coloring.

So, I enjoyed it and over the next few months, I got to hear the draggers and also Ben on his own many times. Ben has a massive catalog of music in his head and at his fingers, but what I came to understand is that he doesn’t just know the songs (although just having all those lyrics and chords and melodies to recall is amazing in itself), he understands them and is able to use all that knowledge to build out his performances, and apply it to his own compositions.

I also came to understand how Ben and his collaborator, Rob Leib, have been instrumental in orchestrating and growing the local music scene overall. Their support for local artists, and cultivation of aligning musicians with charitable causes in the community is vast and inspiring.

Then, a couple years ago, they dropped a new album, “Three Car Pileup”. This one, I did NOT let sit on my desk for a month before I listened to it. It was (wait for it) an evolution from the first album. It opens with Billy singing “dance”, which is so damn good I stopped writing this just now so I could listen to it again. In other songs we have David Pickering singing lead with a distinctive voice built exactly for the material. Ben’s voice is more modulated but still with that happy phrenetic energy that drives everything he does. The songwriting and the production shows Rob and Ben hitting a stride that took what was good in the first album and built on it.

So when I heard they were dropping “Poor Man’s Rain” last December, Boy howdy. Of course I was at the celebration of the album release at Ploughmans (I could probably just have my mail sent to that place), doing what I always do…orbiting around the cool kids and making snarky comments about the beer selection.

I listened to Poor Man’s Rain as they were playing it there that night, and realized I’d heard a good few of the new songs in live performances. They have continued to refine and add influences to their music, staying within the traditional americana universe but constantly redefining and growing.

Summer Wine  has a zydeco vibe with a sharp harp solo and some tremendous call and response, and the best usage of the word “wastrel” I’ve ever heard in song.

Next is the eponymous Poor man’s rain, a rolling banjo and harp country jump with great lyrics. I love how the banjo doesn’t call-and-response in this one, but dances around Ben’s singing and varies the tempo, all the while Dean hammering the beat so the other guys can jump around and through without ever losing the foot tap.

Burying Ground is a classic folk song you find yourself swaying to while Ben tells you the story…something you want to be sitting around a fire pit with a cigar, closing your eyes and putting it up there. Powerful in the way Tom Waites does a story song. You stop and think about it when it’s over, then you throw it back up because you want to memorize the words.

Light is Gone seems like the most quintessential Draggers song on the album. Ben chugs the rhythm out on his guitar while David and Billy work around it and Dean nails you to the floor…it sounds fresh because of the pure joy coming out of Bens lyrics and the wonderful response harmonies. If burying ground makes you want to sit back with a cigar, Light is gone makes you want to stand up and do some stupid looking two-step.

Slightly out is some brilliant lyrics. I find myself going back and listening to it again. It’s got a jumping beat and the normal Dragger chug that makes you tap your foot, but it’s easy to miss how clever and crafted the lyrics are. “a friend once said/im mostly pencil lead”…

Old Friend Blues has David taking the front and demonstrates his virtuoso banjo work, and that smooth folky tone that he sings with. Reminds one of the old country crooners from the 50s. And again, amazed at how the banjo and guitar never step on each other.

Next up, Springtime in Pennsylvania, you can just hear how much Ben’s enjoying himself on this one. I’ve heard him do it live many times, and the grin on his face is amazing. I’m picturing him just jamming while they layed down the fiddle part of this one, and then cut over to Billy on his harp. It’s infectious; if I were to intro someone to the Draggers, this is probably the first song I’d play for them.

I first heard I’ll Be All Smiles, appropriately enough, on valentine’s Day at the annual Murder Ballads night at ploughmans. It’s a great tongue in cheek American gothic tragedy song, and Ben pulls it off amazingly. But I strongly recommend you hear it live!

Slippery People is a heavily jamming country funk thing and you find yourself jamming along with and then suddenly Billy jumps in on the chorus and things got apeshit exactly how you’d want it to. Brings it so hard, I was a little tired when it finished.

I had to listen to “on the Wheel” a few times because it was nagging at me that it reminded me of something and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Its David working through a banjo melody that moves along very well and he’s bluesy folk tone…and then it dawned on me. It reminded me of if someone handed Leonard Cohen a banjo and let him just put something together. It sounds spontaneous and finished at the same time..which is also a credit to Rob and Ben letting the songs breath in their production.

David comes back then with a rolling banjo in “My name is jesse james”, where he jumps through some fun historical characters and works around a fantastic fiddle solo in the middle …hell, we even get a pretty boy Floyd reference as well as Billy. Great stuff.

Finally, Fairytales is a very Beatle-heavy tune that I suspect some heavy Leib fingerprints on…it shows how versatile they can be in executing different genres and still sounding like the Draggers, and allows Ben to work in his endless list of references and influences.

This album exemplifies the expansion and maturity this group is showing as they evolve (there it is). They’re made up of exceptional musicians who now play together so tightly and work off each other so seamlessly, it allows them to take a genre that some just use to recreate old tunes and using it as a basis and vehicle for fresh and increasingly complex art. The recording is also exceptional…and if you get to see them live, or Ben on his own, or Ben and Cuz…or Dean laying it down on any of the 30 bands he must be playing bass for, do it.

Chuck D is a tremendous value to music in Gettysburg, and the individuals who make it up are irreplaceable members of the music scene and the community as a whole. Get out and see them whenever and however often you can, and stay caught up on the festivals and events they, and their label, Guernsey Beat, put together. You’ll get to help some great causes and be treated to some fantastic music, made by good people.