CityBeat
“BTKB slide easily from Bluegrass to Country to a rootsy Americana at the drop of a wide-brimmed hat...The Country palette of the Grateful Dead, the Roots Pop spark of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.”
Sentinel Tribune 4.5.07
Writer scripts musical tales
Adam Brooks Dudding always knew that his degree in creative writing from Bowling Green State University would come in handy someday.
But, instead of penning a script in sorrowful free-verse poetry or working on the next Oprah Book Club novel, he’s doing what he does best, writing lyrically mellifluous songs with colorful images that jump right out of the CD player.
Picture this. A rustic old honky-tonk. A slow-moving blues band on the stage. A crowd of worn-out old country boys around the bar with their beer in one hand and their chin in the other. And, a young man hoping for a chance with a nice young waitress. Pair that vocal imagery with the instrumental prowess of a talented quartet of laid-back musicians and you have a nice introduction to Dudding’s bluegrass, jam band, alt-country and rock-and-roll project, Bucktown Kickback.
“It is not jam band just like it is not bluegrass,” Dudding said in a recent telephone interview. “Lately a word that has been used a lot is Americana, but Americana is a difficult thing to use because it is so broad.”
Dudding, who is currently living and working in Nashville as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, will return to Bowling Green with his genre-eschewing Bucktown Kickback bandmates on April 14 for a free concert at Grounds For Thought at 8 p.m.
Joining him will be former BGSU students Alex Anest on guitar and Dave Blankestyn on drums and percussion, as well as upright bassist Jay Donovan and multi-instrumentalist Adam Schlenker, ready to kick up a storm of bluegrass-laced, acoustic and electric good vibrations.
Since their inception in Columbus in 2002, and the success of their debut CD, “Speakeasy” in 2005, Bucktown Kickback has continued to build a loyal following of crossover music fans who are eager for more banjo breaks, more lap-steel guitar licks and more rhythm-packed lyrics regardless of what style it comes packaged in.
“Sometimes…I will be a little bit leery because a true bluegrass aficionado would see the drum set and the guitar amplifier and say ‘that is not bluegrass,’” Dudding said. “A lot of people are pointing to a surge in the bluegrass art form and acoustic music, and there is a jam band crowd who has a place in their heart for bluegrass because a lot of creators of that type of music also played bluegrass.”
He highlights artists like Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia, who perfected the banjo long before his band pioneered the jam music scene, or modern groups like Yonder Mountain String Band, who bring it all back again, with lengthy jams on traditional bluegrass instruments at the forefront of this crossover.
Somewhere between the lines finds the Bucktown Kickback sound as a whole. Not really pushing the bluegrass envelope or riding the up and down jam-rock wave, but carving out a pleasant space for themselves somewhere in the middle.
Their upcoming sophomore release, “Lost In Your Own Hometown” (due out this fall) pushes up the tempo a bit more than their laid-back debut release, with a little more percussion, a little more soloing and a lot more of Dudding’s songwriting. But the images are still there, sometimes haunting, sometimes playful and sometimes self-effacing, working to paint a portrait on a lyrical canvas that is only enhanced with a delicate guitar strum or a cooking banjo lick.
“I have been blessed with being able to have so many friends and peers that are great musicians who also enjoy playing songs that I write.”
Kickin’ back
Bucktown Kickback will
perform a free concert
April 14 at 8 p.m. at
Grounds for Thought, 174 S. Main St., Bowling Green.
By COLE CHRISTENSEN
Sentinel Staff Writer
4/5/07
Adam Brooks Dudding always knew that his degree in creative writing from Bowling Green State University would come in handy someday.
But, instead of penning a script in sorrowful free-verse poetry or working on the next Oprah Book Club novel, he’s doing what he does best, writing lyrically mellifluous songs with colorful images that jump right out of the CD player.
Picture this. A rustic old honky-tonk. A slow-moving blues band on the stage. A crowd of worn-out old country boys around the bar with their beer in one hand and their chin in the other. And, a young man hoping for a chance with a nice young waitress. Pair that vocal imagery with the instrumental prowess of a talented quartet of laid-back musicians and you have a nice introduction to Dudding’s bluegrass, jam band, alt-country and rock-and-roll project, Bucktown Kickback.
“It is not jam band just like it is not bluegrass,” Dudding said in a recent telephone interview. “Lately a word that has been used a lot is Americana, but Americana is a difficult thing to use because it is so broad.”
Dudding, who is currently living and working in Nashville as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, will return to Bowling Green with his genre-eschewing Bucktown Kickback bandmates on April 14 for a free concert at Grounds For Thought at 8 p.m.
Joining him will be former BGSU students Alex Anest on guitar and Dave Blankestyn on drums and percussion, as well as upright bassist Jay Donovan and multi-instrumentalist Adam Schlenker, ready to kick up a storm of bluegrass-laced, acoustic and electric good vibrations.
Since their inception in Columbus in 2002, and the success of their debut CD, “Speakeasy” in 2005, Bucktown Kickback has continued to build a loyal following of crossover music fans who are eager for more banjo breaks, more lap-steel guitar licks and more rhythm-packed lyrics regardless of what style it comes packaged in.
“Sometimes…I will be a little bit leery because a true bluegrass aficionado would see the drum set and the guitar amplifier and say ‘that is not bluegrass,’” Dudding said. “A lot of people are pointing to a surge in the bluegrass art form and acoustic music, and there is a jam band crowd who has a place in their heart for bluegrass because a lot of creators of that type of music also played bluegrass.”
He highlights artists like Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia, who perfected the banjo long before his band pioneered the jam music scene, or modern groups like Yonder Mountain String Band, who bring it all back again, with lengthy jams on traditional bluegrass instruments at the forefront of this crossover.
Somewhere between the lines finds the Bucktown Kickback sound as a whole. Not really pushing the bluegrass envelope or riding the up and down jam-rock wave, but carving out a pleasant space for themselves somewhere in the middle.
Their upcoming sophomore release, “Lost In Your Own Hometown” (due out this fall) pushes up the tempo a bit more than their laid-back debut release, with a little more percussion, a little more soloing and a lot more of Dudding’s songwriting. But the images are still there, sometimes haunting, sometimes playful and sometimes self-effacing, working to paint a portrait on a lyrical canvas that is only enhanced with a delicate guitar strum or a cooking banjo lick.
“I have been blessed with being able to have so many friends and peers that are great musicians who also enjoy playing songs that I write.”
Kickin’ back
Bucktown Kickback will
perform a free concert
April 14 at 8 p.m. at
Grounds for Thought, 174 S. Main St., Bowling Green.
By COLE CHRISTENSEN
Sentinel Staff Writer
4/5/07
Tap Roots Radio Review
"I can imagine Bucktown Kickback (BTKB to their friends) playing the in the corner of your local indie coffee house while all the beatnik posers tap their feet to the music, secretly diggng it. BTKB brings all the old time bluegrass and roots music elements like banjos, mandolins, upright bass, lap steel, into the 21st century. Like good alt.country, the songs sound like something written last week instead of two centrueis ago. Unlike most alt.country which tends to sound angsty and gritty, BTKB, is fundamentally upbeat, happy, and light without seeming too sweet and sappy. The simple song arrangements bring out the best of every instrument in the band and showcase the band's good-natured-yet-world-wise lyrics..."
byrdsnet.com
"This is an alt-bluegrass band from central Ohio. We have seen them live, and enjoyed them very much (and the show was free, yet better than most $50-per-ticket acts floating around). As we heard them play, many bands came to mind, such as the Flying Burrito Brothers, Dillard and Clark, Railroad Earth, and of course the Byrds. David swore that about three of their songs had similar chords to "Train Leaves Here This Morning," by Dillard and Clark (and the Eagles). Either way, check them out, since they play creative original Americana tunes."
The Columbus Distpatch
"Formed in the summer of 2002, the group has been a steady presence on the local and regional club circuit, honing already impressive skills. The album is an excellent collection of 15 down-home originals that blur the line between bluegrass, folk, pop and boozy country-blues. Echoes of the Grateful Dead's Workingman's Dead, John Prine and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band run throughout Speakeasy, but the group is smart enough to take those as starting points."
The Alive
"...Drawing from a wellspring of inspirational sources ranging from bluegrass to Dixieland, the five-piece outfit has been churning out pleasantly eclectic rustic sounds for about three years..."
altcountry.nl
"Bucktown Kickback is een bandje dat je moet beleven in een volle dorpskroeg. Ja, het complete clich?beeld met verschraald bier en sigarettendamp. Want uiteindelijk is dat wat na een avond feestmuziek resteert, wanneer de band de instrumenten inlaadt in een oude bestelbus en de laatste klant zijn hoofd te ruste heeft gelegd op de bar. De bandleden van Bucktown Kickback hebben die avond pakweg vijftien cd?s verkocht, een record. Het is dan ook het favoriete kroegbandje in Columbus, Ohio, en omgeving. Na de talrijke optredens vonden ze de tijd rijp voor de opnamen van een cd, getiteld Speakeasy (eigen beheer). Het vijftal doet op een rootsliedje als Meta denken aan een band als Frog Holler, maar neigt vaker naar bluegrass, mede door de samenzang. Rootsinstrumenten als gitaren, mandoline, banjo en plukbas vormen dan ook de ingredi?nten voor de vijftien, gevarieerde levensliedjes qua tempo en muzikale invulling. Wat is er mooier dan vissen met je meisje, zingt de band. Ik heb het nooit gedaan, maar geloof ze meteen. Niet dat het altijd goed afloopt. Want als je lief je dropt voelt dat als een Punch In The Nose of kun je alleen nog maar treuren en terugverlangen (Since You Been Gone). En voel je je slecht, dan kun je altijd nog dromen (Meta). Zo bezingt Bucktown Kickback op aardige wijze het wereldje van jou en mij."
- Bart Ebisch
- Bart Ebisch
