THE FOGGY HOGTOWN BOYS WITH IVAN ROSENBERG play Hugh’s Room Sunday (November 20). See listing. Rating: NNNN
Toronto bluegrass band the Foggy Hogtown Boys teamed up with American dobro player Ivan Rosenberg to record The Hogtown Sessions, a collection of songs inspired by the style of bluegrass popular in the 70s. Think Flatt & Scruggs, Buzz Busby and the Stanley Brothers.
Neither old-timey nor “newgrass,” the band’s fluid and robust reworkings are clever. Only after going back to the originals does it occur to you how modern they are.
Opener Lost is intentionally rushed and then slowed down, while toe-tapper Reno Bound is deceptively upbeat. And I actually prefer their darker, richer version of call-and-response number Up This Hill And Down to the Osborne Brothers’ performance that inspired it.
Top track: Up This Hill And Down
