It's hard to explain just how cool the Foghorn Stringband is. If mountain fiddle and rapid-fire banjo fingerpickin' aren't your cup of tea - or, worse yet, make you think of Deliverance - then maybe you ought to give this a miss. If, on the other hand, you've been a banjo fan ever since you discovered Bela Fleck, or you harbor a secret love of square-dancing, then Rattlesnake Tidal Wave is for you. Hokey, in case you hadn't noticed, is way hip these days.
Hip or not, there's no getting around the fact that the Foghorn Stringband kicks major ass. All of these musicians are exceptional players, and Rattlesnake Tidal Wave hums along like a perfectly tuned engine. Did I mention it's a live recording, recorded in two days, with a single microphone? Did I also mention that this band began in a hungover jam session during a folk festival in Idaho? I mean, how much more punk rock can you get?
If all of that hasn't convinced you, then maybe this will: you can't listen to this CD without grinning. It's like they dipped it in an infectious happiness agent before sending it out into the world. But this isn't the perky, cheerful sort of happiness that makes you want to find some Beanie Babies and set them on fire; this is the sort of happiness that requires a weekend-long moonshine bender to acquire.
