The Tillers

One of the joys of Bluegrass and related roots forms is just how natural and unprocessed the music generally is and The Tillers are a sublime example – albeit with a strange history.

This linup features Mike Oberst and the Geil brothers - Sean on guitar and Aaron on slap bass – and they stem from the Cleveland hardcore scene, describing themselves as ‘reformed punk rockers’. Musically this is all about Appalachian folk and Bluegrass performing classic folk numbers and Blues with real style and not a little joy. This whole album was recorded direct to tape with no overdubs and the result has a ‘live’ feel to it.

The songs dredge up images from the old days of the coal miners and farmers with Oberst’s vocals hard and emotive driving the music before it. His family history of involvement in the land until his grandfather sold the family farm to a coal mine only to be gypped out of the money he was owed echoes throughout the album and the songs about unionising and the hurt done to the poor of rural America have the ring of history about them.
Oberst’s list of instruments is remarkable taking in banjo, fiddle, harmonicas, spoons, dulcimer and accordion and he seems perfectly capable on them all. The harmony vocals between the three are a perfect accompaniment to the playing.

Personal favourite numbers would be ‘Tecumseh on the Battlefield’ with raw fiddle and banjo against three part harmonies or ‘I Gotta Move’, a slow Blues with a hard edge and tough telling of a sinner seeking redemption.

This has the authenticity of musicians that have personal history but it is also brilliantly played and the result is an album that just seems to get better the more familiar one gets with it.