Search - M Shanghai String Band :: Up From The Ground Below

Good, Not Great, Acoustic Folk/Country Music from Brooklyn,

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 06/28/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Up from the Ground Below", the M Shanghai String Band's debut album, offers a relatively unknown New York City country/folk band which pays homage to classic mid 20th Century country/folk music. Judging from a few songs I've heard so far from this CD, theirs is a tight, somewhat polished, ensemble that plays with ample gusto. As such, the M Shanghai String Band represents what is good - and bad - about New York City's relatively nascent country/folk music scene which is based primarily in Brooklyn, New York (where both the band and the leading advocate of Big Apple country music, singer/songwriter/guitarist Alex Battles - and the founder and leader of the popuiar local band The Whisky Rebellion - hail from; I might add too that their playing is better than what I have heard from The Whisky Rebellion.) playing with ample sincerity, but lacking in the sterling musicianship I've come to expect from distinguished Celtic music groups such as Altan and Cherish the Ladies, and especially, my favorite bluegrass/country/folk music band from the Old Pueblo (better known as Tucson, AZ), the Mollys. Without question, the M Shanghai String Band is among the handful of good country/folk bands currently based in Brooklyn, NY, but only time will tell whether they'll be as memorable as the Mollys, whose honors include performing twice at Lincoln Center and earning recognition for their 1997 album "Moon over the Interstate" as one of the year's best from the Washington Post (EDITORIAL NOTE: I am indebted to Brooklyn Country Music "impresario" "Dock" Oscar Stern for reminding me of the original version of this Amazon.com review; I had almost forgotten it until he brought it to my attention recently.)."