...The first few songs set the scene for what was to follow and included the beautiful Southern Girl’s Reply and the twinkly, foot-tapping, tongue-twisting Hop, Rabbit, Hop. The Long Hill Ramblers swing and sway effortlessly between fiddle-driven tunes and maudlin country ballads, visiting all stops in between – from East Sussex to West Virginia. The balance of Laura’s voice, Tab’s guitar, Ben’s fiddle and Dan’s banjo is, to my ears, just about right. No-one is the star yet everyone matters and contributes....
...The Long Hill Ramblers are without doubt a band to catch if you can. Their great musicianship, superb song choice and obvious love of the music means that they come across as truly genuine enthusiasts and not some sort of mid-Atlantic copyists.
So often CDs bought at gigs disappoint – they can sometimes seem much more one dimensional than the live performance just seen. Not this time – the Sean Lakeman-produced Beauty and Butchery really does live up to expectations – it’s simple, direct, crisp and as clear as a bell – and its title perfectly encapsulates the content and range of the music, gleeful and trivial right through to the dastardly murderous. Buy it!
