The Skiffle Players: Skifflin’

Bill Murphy on May 16, 2016

While they don’t quite qualify as an according-to-Hoyle skiffle band—in the Brit tradition of say, The Quarrymen (later known as The Beatles)—The Skiffle Players still hold true to that ethos, which is to throw yourself into roots music with as much authenticity and abandon as you can muster. Fronted by Cass McCombs and Neal Casal (lead guitarist for The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, and the genius behind last year’s Circles Around the Sun project), the band hits all the right notes, from the rollicking psych-meets-zydeco beat of the opener “Coo Coo Bird” to the funky Mardi Gras tribute “Michael Weikel.” The high point is probably “When the Title Was Wrote,” a trance-rock excursion sung by McCombs that would be equally at home in a late ‘70s Dead set or a War on Drugs encore from last weekend.

Artist: The Skiffle Players
Album: Skifflin’
Label: Spiritual Pajamas