Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has announced March 25 as the release date for Never Slow Down, the new album by The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, and dropped a new single to whet our appetites.
Both celebrate the hard driving original bluegrass sound that these Boys have championed since they first appeared on the scene in 2014. Well schooled in the masters of the music, the band ethos has been carrying that tradition forward by contributing new songs to the catalog, all in that time-honored style.
Mandolinist, vocalist, and founder C.J. Lewandowski says that is exactly what they have set out to do.
“We know what bluegrass is. We know the history. And we respect the history. But, we’re looking to expand the boundaries of bluegrass—that’s the truth of the matter. A good song is a good song. We want to honor the past, but we also want to do our own material—to have our own sound, and to play our own way.”
This first single from Never Slow Down is a fast moving number called The Blues Are Close at Hand, featuring banjo picker Jereme Brown on the lead vocal. Jereme is the scion of the legendary Tommy Brown, one of the finest bluegrass singers to ever come up from Kentucky. But the younger Brown is his own man on the five string and as a singer, which you can hear on this track.
Joining C.J. and Jereme are fellow founding members Josh Rinkel on guitar and Jasper Lorentzen on bass, with newest “Boy” Laura Orshaw on fiddle.
Pre-saves and pre-orders for Never Slow Down are enabled now online.
