The Steel Wheels don’t have anything to do with the 1989 Rolling Stones album. Instead they are a Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia based string band/ roots collective powered by the songs of Trent Wagler.
The music is powered by a whole lot of down home fiddle music. The entire CD is very much a bluegrass influenced album with vocal harmonies and plenty of mandolin, banjo, guitar and of course fiddle. There are peppy tunes like “Go Up To That Mountain” with a little bit of twang and some subtle harmonies.
It is a pretty laid back CD overall, though they pick up the tempo on “ the Race.”
“O Child” brings everything together perfectly— the instrumentation, the melodies and the whole bluegrass sound The Steel Wheels have got down.
“Until the Summer Comes,” is one of the more mournful , slower fiddle powered tunes.
On a more upbeat note, the Steel Wheels turn Tom Waits’ 2006 song “Walk Away” into a folk/ roots song which works very well.
The other big highlight is “No More Rain” which is a toe tapping, folky number which a catchy rhythm and upbeat fiddle which sounds like a group of friends hanging out and playing music on the front porch, which is, chances are, where these songs were born. It is an entertaining easygoing listen, especially if you enjoy a good string band having fun playing traditional instruments together.
Catch them at the Geomatic Attic, Oct. 4.
Band: The Steel Wheels
Genre: folk/ country/ roots/ bluegrass
