This is a side project of Colonel J.D. Wilkes from Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers. The completely inconspicuous cover hides a masterpiece album. The trio Dirt Daubers from Kentucky produced great material, which was also expertly recorded. Wake Up Sinners (2011) lasts less than half an hour, and during this time you will travel to the authentic music of the Southern States with its unique honest and rough folk sound.
It’s worth telling a little bit about where the name Dirt Daubers came from. Sphecid mud wasps, called Mud Daubers, are small predatory insects about an inch long that build their nests out of the ground. In the United States, there have been cases of plane crashes caused by these wasps, who built their homes in valves or in measuring instruments of planes that had been idle for a long time. In general, Dirt Daubers are dangerous and interesting creatures.
The band’s previous work in 2009 looks frankly weak against the background of Wake Up Sinners, the previous album looks like a collection of low-key demo recordings. There are a lot of instruments here: banjo, guitar, mandolin, piano, accordion, harmonica, kazoo, double bass, percussion… Half of the songs are sung by J.D. himself, and his singing is successfully replaced by the voice of his wife Jessica. She’s an absolutely essential member of the trio, Jessica Wilkes. In addition, nepotism is one of the distinguishing features of folk root music.
Mark Robertson plays double bass, he is also the producer and bassist of Legendary Shack Shakers. His participation gave Dirt Daubers a pulse and a real groove.
Joshua Devan Wilkes is a talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. Despite the fact that his banjo prevails in some places, JD does not pull the blanket over himself with his playing. Most of the tracks are composed by him and Jessica.
The album begins with a win-win version of Wayfaring Stranger, a classic of folk music sung by everyone from Johnny Cash legend to little-known neophytes. In addition to Wayfayring Stranger, there are several other old songs: Say Darling Say is a simple and charming Polka, Single Girl is a humorous song about the hardships of marriage from the 1920s.
Dirt Daubers – Angel Along The Tracks
One of the lightest life-affirming tracks is Angel Along The Tracks, which melodically reminds me of Bob Dylan’s When The Ship Comes In, and Trucks, Tractors And Trains by the Robertson/Wilkes duo – both songs are partly about trains. Be Not Afraid is a ballad about ghosts and how boys don’t like nice girls anymore.
Devil Gets His Due was present on the last album, but it was definitely just an outline. J. D. Wilkes definitely has a close relationship with the devil, many of his songs touch on this red-hoofed gentleman. You Can’t Go To Heaven is also very infernal. Get Outta My Way is a pretty assertive aggressive theme, just like High And Low. The honky-tonk ragtime She And Us Pets takes us back to the beginning of the last century.
All the songs are very different – from vaudeville and ragtime to skiffle and bluegrass, all the instruments sound acoustically, as if without any electricity. Not a single song is boring or boring, each one has its own charm, the work of J.D. colleagues is listened to with great pleasure. This is undoubtedly one of the best albums in the genres of folk and Americana, and it can also be attributed to the genres of Old Appalachian, Jazz & Blues. Wake Up Sinners is one of a kind, and the next album, Wild Moon (2013), is much closer to the Legendary Shack Shakers.
Dirt Daubers – Wake Up Sinners (2011)
02 Get Outta My Way
03 Angel Along The Tracks
04 Be Not Afraid
05 The Devil Gets His Due
06 Say Darlin’ Say
07 Can’t Get To Heaven
08 High And Low
09 Trucks, Tractors And Trains
10 Wake Up, Sinners
11 Single Girl
12 She And Us Pets
13 My Old Kentucky Home
Download Dirt Daubers – Wake Up Sinners (rar, mp3, 61 Mb)
Join us or listen to Dirt Daubers online:
https://thedirtdaubers.bandcamp.com/
Some fans complain that the album came out rather short, but it’s still much better than if it contained songs called filler, which serve only to fill time. There are 12 short songs, each lasting only about 2 minutes, and the 13th track is a natural melody from an old music box. Wake Up Sinners stayed in my smartphone for a long time and repeatedly delighted my ears on the way to work and back home, which I wish you.
