Album Review: Derelict, by Honky Suckle

There is a palpable difference in tone to the 14 songs on Derelict, the debut album from the freshly consolidated bluegrass group Honky Suckle, compared with most other bluegrass albums. Happy-go-lucky material this isn’t–”I would walk through Hell just to have another taste of you,” the band repeats, turning love into a desperate make-or-break in the opening “Forbidden Fruit”–but that’s part of what sets this album apart and keeps the listener sucked in. It’s not depressing music, but it uses a tinge of melodrama and a rough-around-the-edges persona combined with engaging effect.

It begins with the vocals of singer/harmonica player Kyle Young and drummer Adam Howell, two gruff voices that, while lacking some range, combine to give songs such as the dead-lover lament “Body and Soul,” “There Is a Time,” “Dying Crapshooter Blues,” and the sprawling, six-minute-plus “Pride of the Grey” an uneasy, and even slightly dark, undercurrent. The last of these is a crystalizing song for the album, showing not only the strife in the lyrics and howling in the vocals but the rich musical bed the band layers them over. This is one tight band, with banjo and especially harmonica leading the way in soloing and drums, percussion, bass and guitar building an intense and propulsive core. There is no letup or slower song to relax the psyche, only the occasional mid-song tempo change to take a breather before charging ahead again.

Recorded on a home system and engineered by guitarist Eric Howell, Honky Suckle has crafted a distinctive album that should rank among the year’s best. If good bluegrass sounds like you’re sitting on the porch with the band while it plays, consider Derelict the sound of Honky Suckle picking and grinning as the storm clouds gather and spew lightning on the horizon. They’re not running from it, and neither should you.