Hungrytown
Album: Further West
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 12
Website: http://hungrytown.net

One thing about Folk music is that it can draw in just about anyone one. Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson are a case in point. Coming together in New York City, Hall from a Jazz background while Anderson was a drummer in various garage bands, their introduction to Folk Music came when a close friend, who died young due to a tragic misdiagnosis, entrusted to them her collection of 1960s folk albums and her guitar, which has since featured on all the duo's albums.

For just over a decade now, Hall and Anderson have been writing and performing under the name Hungrytown with Rebecca as the main songwriter and producer/instrumentalist/husband Responsible for the sound.

Further West is Hungrytown's third album and in it, the duo have produced a collection of songs that both original yet familiar and spring from both the British and American folk traditions.

Travelling is a recurring theme on Further West, although the destination is not always a physical one and a happy ending is not guaranteed. There is a certain edge to Rebecca's songwriting that is present right from the start. The album opener Further West leaves the story open to interpretation but, to your reviewer, this particular journey may well involve a ferryman and a pair of coins. Hard Way To Learn tells the story of a young mother who leaves her young child in search of a better life, only to find that things don't always go to plan.

Two songs that anybody who has done night driving will identify with are Highway Song, which comments on how the world looks when viewed through the rear window of a car, and Static, a song of a dark lonely road with the radio signal fading in and out.

Not all the songs on Further West are written by Hall though, migration comes to the fore again in an a Capella version of Woody Guthrie's tale of Okies leaving the dust bowl, Fields Of Plenty.

Fellow Vermont resident Gene Morrison is also featured with his song inspired by the Blake Family and their 1821 journey on the Kelley Stand Trail. When the song is called Don't Go Over The Mountain, you just know that the story isn't going to end well.

Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson are joined on Further West by two guest musicians, Renowned Vermont fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger, who's driving fiddle playing can be heard to great effect on Hard Way To Learn, and Cellist Suzanne Mueller. Mueller also contributes one song to the album, the poignant Ramparts And Bridges. This song reflects on the ability of music to build both bridges and barriers between people and is inspired by the sonnet On Hearing A Symphony Of Beethoven by Edna St Vincent Millay.

The final track on this album, Troubles In Between, is a song about alienation and escaping your problems by going to sleep and, perhaps surprisingly, means that Hungrytown have something in common with Metallica. The Thrash Metal band's 1991 single about unnamed fears and things that go bump in the night, Enter Sandman, starts with a version of A Child's Bedtime Prayer, as does Troubles In Between.

All in all, Further West, is an album well worth investigating. If you're looking for songs about rainbows and fluffy bunnies then you won't find them here. What you will find is a collection of songs with a certain amount of grit and a bit of an edge that I am sure will pass into the tradition in the future, in fact my partner is already eying a couple up to sing at future folk club singers nights.

Dave Chamberlain