Hackensaw Boys @ James Park (Evanston)

No power? No problem! That was the case Thursday night at James Park in Evanston, Illinois for Hackensaw Boys, a six-piece outfit responsible for sonic concoctions of blistering bluegrass and active Americana.

But let’s back up a step. The group, whose new album, Look Out for Barking Dogs and Braking Trains!, will be released through Nettwerk Records this Tuesday, June 19, began a beautiful evening in the northern suburb of Chicago with a perfectly functional power generator.

Playing to a crowd no larger than a hundred at the edge of a small hill, the Boys laid impeccably harmonized tunes upon their seated audience as the sun set to their right. Tales regarding females, often with three-, four-, or five-part vocals, coated the band’s foundation of banjo, violin, acoustic guitar, mandolin, upright bass, harmonica, and makeshift percussion.

In “Oh, Girl,” the second track on Look Out…, guitarist Ward Harrison crooned that if his object of affection was indeed avoiding him, he would sugar her tank and salt her tree.

But shortly thereafter – as though karma had caught Harrison for his mild threats of property damage – Hackensaw Boys lost their aforementioned electricity. No matter – the group simply made its way off its foot-high stage and moseyed to the crowd-covered grass.

It was there that the Boys were fully appreciated as an acoustic assemblage. And as true crowd pleasers, they finished the set without amplification at the crowd’s behest.

“Look Out, Dog! Slow Down, Train!” closed the performance in fine fashion as the band sang about the potential peril of a pooch. Power be damned; Hackensaw Boys provided all the energy that the evening required.

- Scott Morrow

Hackensaw Boys: Various Tracks