Round Mountain Girls – White Rum

White Rum – Round Mountain Girls (2008)
White Rum, the debut album from the Round Mountain Girls, has been described as “grittily optimistic”, “high-spirited” and “unique”. RMG, being a 6 piece band, recognizes the diversity of it’s musicians and the musical influences they have brought to this album. The album contains 11 originals and one re-working of an Irish folk classic Drowsy Maggie.
The album features Rabbit Robinson on fiddle. White Rum was nominated for a Golden Fiddle Award in the “Best CD Featuring a Fiddle” category in 2010. While the band was nominated in “Best Band Featuring a Fiddle player”.
White Rum also features Banjo, Guitars, Mandolin, Didge, Percussion, Bass and Drums and exceptional songwriting.
As Deborah Minter from Capital News said, “….this is an album for hard liquor, foot stompin’, cold nights and mountain air”.
1. White Rum (Brooker) 2. Rikki Tikki (Eaton) 3. Déjà vu (Eaton) 4. Nobody Came (Eaton) 5. WC Fever (Eaton) 6. Greek Tragedy (Hails) 7. Drowsy Maggie (Traditional – arr. Round Mountain Girls) 8. Ashamed (Brooker) 9. Father Time (Eaton) 10. Red Berries (Brooker) 11. Cowboy Dan (Bilson) 12. Why It Hurts (Eaton)
ROUND MOUNTAIN GIRLS
Australian roots and bluegrass meisters, the Round Mountain Girls, are riding an underground musical current, which is swelling by the day.
The Round Mountain Girls recently performed at the 2010 Blues and Roots Festival in Byron Bay. The band enjoyed huge crowd support and took Bluesfest partygoers by surprise. This has been on the back of a hectic summer schedule playing four shows at the Woodford Folk Festival, which the band was thrilled to receive an unprecedented two encores and also playing 10 shows in 7 days at the Tamworth Country Music festival. The same response was also felt at the Caloundra Music Festival in October this year.
Their live performances are vibrant, intense and full of remarkable instrumentation. The band boasts having “one of the best fiddle players in Australia”, in Paul (Rabbit) Robinson, whose lighting fiddle and dexterous touch add an ‘x’ factor that every band needs. This was confirmed in 2010 when Rabbit and the band were nominated for two Golden Fiddle awards. Best Band Featuring a Fiddler and Best Composition Featuring Fiddle. They were finalists in both categories.
The band also features 4 part harmonies, Banjo, Acoustic Guitars, Mandolin, Didgeridoo, and a bucket of percussive instruments. Driving all of this are Bass and Drums and the song writing talents of Chris Brooker and Chris Eaton. The Round Mountain Girls aim to tell modern stories on traditional instruments. They have developed their own unique sound and their fan base is spreading fast.
The Round Mountain Girls are set to release their second album, One Step Closer, in January 2011 and will be touring and promoting it throughout the year. One Step Closer was produced by Anthony Lycenko (ARIA winning producer with Pete Murray) and recorded at Studios 301 in Byron Bay. White Rum, the band’s first album is available now through the Trad and Now store.
The last two years have seen the Round Mountain Girls come into their own as one of Australia’s leading roots and bluegrass bands.
Folk On music lovers! The girls are back in town.

Round Mountain Girls – White Rum
CD review by Chris Spencer

This CD is a welcome listening surprise.
I was expecting a blue grass band, but fell in love with the band’s arrangements and lead vocalist Brad Hails’ voice.
Spouse suggested it sounded like John Schumann’s, but sweeter.
The band describes their music as bluegrass, Celtic and roots music.
They use traditional bluegrass instruments but to me have more folk-rock arrangements than bluegrass – strident vocals, male harmonies, upbeat rhythms and some serious issues to impart.
The title track features fiddle and banjo/mandolin, is upbeat, and talks about the experience of drinking rum.
Among the stronger tracks is the 2nd track, “Rikki Rikki” which continues the pace of the first track and is one of those songs that I’ve heard before and can’t put my finger on its origin.
However the song is credited to Chris Eaton, one of the members of the band and features lyrics such as “Hey Diddle Diddle, there’s a rabbit on the Fiddle”.
Another stronger track is the interpretation of the traditional “Drowsy Maggie”.
“Deja Vu” is very bluegrass influenced; “Nobody Came” is one of two light-hearted songs on the album, describing a party that nobody came to; the 2nd is “Father Time” in which the protagonist comments on the ravages of time on his physical appearance.
“WC Fever” is loosely based on a sea shanty theme, highlighting the tin whistle playing of Hails; “Greek Tragedy” is a comment on war; “Ashamed” is driven by the banjo and fiddle.
Four of the members are song writers:  “Red Berries” is written by Chris Brooker and so is a bit different to other songs on the album.
It has a long folksy introduction.
Bill Bilson wrote “Cowboy Dan” which is more country than the other material whereas Chris Eaton and Brad Hails wrote the bulk of the other songs.
The last song, “Why it Hurts” is about the singer’s relationship with his mother and again the tempo of this song is slower, the arrangement more mellow and acoustic.
RMG have recorded a new album during 2010, titled One Step Closer.
I’m eagerly looking forward to hearing it.
Highly recommended.