Hunger Mountain Boys at the Black Box, Belfast

Moving on Music present the Hunger Mountain Boys

Sunday 6 July 2008
Black Box, Belfast
Doors 8.00 p.m.
Tickets £10/7 from Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609)
and online

CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE DAY WITH RIP-ROARING RAG-TIME AMERICANA AT THE BLACK BOX

Following a hugely successful European tour last year and praise from BBC presenter Mark Lamarr, who described their music as 'one of the best things I’ve ever heard', the Hunger Mountain Boys from Massachusetts fly back across the Atlantic intent on keeping their reputation as one of the hottest bands on the American roots music circuit intact, when they play Belfast’s Black Box on Sunday 6 July.

Featuring Kip Beacco (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Matt Downing (string bass, vocals) and Teddy Weber (guitar, steel guitar, vocals), the Hunger Mountain Boys, with their hillbilly-tinged, rural vaudeville music, have just cracked the half-decade mark on their touring and recording career. During this short time they have released four full-length albums, toured extensively and opened shows for such Americana icons as Taj Mahal, Doc Watson, Iris DeMent, and Ralph Stanley.

Merging contemporary influences with their own eclectic upbringings and infatuation with 1920s, '30s and '40s western swing, country jazz and early bluegrass, the Hunger Mountain Boys embody musical traditions while revealing their own voices, and have been described by the Boston Globe as playing 'Sweet pieces of twangy, acoustic Americana'.

With their distinctive nimble-fingered, barn-burnin’ style, the Hunger Mountain Boys’ music resonates from an unoccupied niche in the resurgence of today’s acoustic string bands. Their sharp playing and crisp vocal harmonies have seamlessly woven the traditional and the innovative, pleasing new audiences, but not isolating older fans of the Hank Williams era either. During their heartfelt, authentic, rip-roaring live set, they enkindle the spirit of the early performers, and such is the authenticity of their original material, it makes it difficult to distinguish the old from the new.

Now Northern Ireland audiences will be able to kick up their heels and enjoy the ragtime rhythms of these Americana aficionados when they take to the stage of the Black Box, Belfast, on Sunday 6 July. Tickets for this event are available from Belfast Welcome Centre, (028 9024 6609) or online from www.movingonmusic.co.uk. Doors open at 8.30pm. To find more about the Hunger Mountain Boys, log on to their website or MySpace site.

For further information please contact Ailis Corey at Moving on Music, by sending an e-mail, or by telephoning 028 9024 8818.

Moving on Music is a non-profit company and registered charity, which has been the foremost promoter of jazz, blues, traditional, world, and electronic music in Northern Ireland since its establishment in 1995.

PRESS REVIEWS: THE HUNGER MOUNTAIN BOYS

'It is only the sonic clarity and warmth of their recording that makes you realize that you are not actually living in the past, but hearing its immaculate recreation... These guys believe.' Dirty Linen Magazine #120, Oct./Nov. 2005

'Their show is alive with the spirit of the early performers, and you can feel their love for what they do. Entertaining teamwork; first-class musicianship and singing; good, heartfelt, and sometimes funny material, with some excellent new songs in the old style. What a combination! It makes me wish they had a 15-minute radio show I could listen to every day.' Pete 'Dr Banjo' Wernick, Sept. 2005

'The smartly-suited duet ripped out traditional country and original songs at a furious pace, spitting out lyrics so rapidly that, at times, it was difficult to keep up. To make it even more interesting, the duet frequently changed instruments.' Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel, ME, 12 Sept. 2005

'These are some nimble-fingered, barn-burnin’ country boys... or they’re time-travelers, one or the other. You don’t need a degree to recognize the prettiest pickin’ you’ve ever heard.' Kevan Breitinger

'Except for the fact that there’s no static, these could easily be taken for transcriptions from 1935 or so.' Sing Out! magazine, Summer 2004

'Genuine. Authentic. Bonafide. Beautiful in its simplicity... The Hunger Mountain Boys’ sound is all these and more. If not for the excellent production values... you would literally have to read the liner notes to believe that this music was not recorded in the 1920s.' Jeff Anzevino, founder & president, Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association

'Not much since the '20s, '30s and early '40s have we heard such music as the Hunger Mountain Boys with their authentic old-time sound. They are a genuine facsimile of that era from their period dress to their spot-on vocalization... It’s no wonder they are one of the fastest rising groups in the North-east today'. Dave Helman, Country Corner WTCC-FM, Springfield, MA

'It's hillbilly touched with hokum and ragtime, with Appalachian folk always looming somewhere, close or distant, in the background. The result is a kind of rural vaudeville music.' Jerome Clark, Rambles.NET, 28 October 2006