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SLEAZEGRINDER
The Penningtones - Circle of Fifths
(Go Kustom) www.go-kustom.com
The pick of this time arounds crop I reckon. A quite liltingly lovely backporch lazing graceful glide for the most part spliced down the middle with a short sharp shock of reelin', a-rockin' - shufflin' rug-cuttin' boogie (on "Baby Likes To Mess Around" with a nimble little riff pilfered off the Reverend Cash's "Luther Played The Boogie"). All glistening slightly tremeloed guitars shimmering away, with big, grizzly sized honky-tonk telecasters twanging around in the front. Walking (unsteadily?) along the same dusty dirt roads as Steve Earle (mainly from his "El Corazon" period), Sid Griffins' Coal Porters, and lesserly Mr. Earle's fellow Texan troubadour compadres Guy Clark, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the very late and very great Townes Van Zandt. Put all that in the pan and fry it - you get some excellently written, played and constructed classic country toons. Of course ya do... the highlight quite possibly been the gently rollin' masterpiece Wildcat which by it's very nature would have been tempting to blast out Nuggets style (indeedy do it does share a geetar pattern with The Sonics classic Strychnine which is included here as an extra track on which The 'Tones sound like they've ploughed their way thru' an enviable amount - me currently being skint and on the rickety old wagon - of the circle of fifths pictured on the cover) but understatement lets it saunter along on the superglue strength of its infectious melody ("She drinks like a fish and then we fight like cats"). The vocals are a key card to play too. Brent Pennington's hoarse, cracked, roadworn and weary, almost consumptive voice fitting their style supremely... reminding me of Roky Erickson's beautiful "All That May Do My Rhyme" material. But the ace to play is Stefanie Hodovance's Maria McKee / Margo Timmins thing goin' on (seen as I just got Eileen Rose's "Long Shot Noveena" too & finding similar this is a double reason to rejoice) in "Broken Man", especially on the hauntingly smoky Cowboy Junkies woozy haze of "Words".
This is a mini marvelling classic that should be purchased
by anyone liking any of the above mentioned people 'cos it's fucking
brilliant, despite them looking like geography teachers.
- Stu Gibson
DELUSIONS OF ADEQUACY MAGAZINE
The Penningtones
Circle of Fifths
(Go-Kustom Records)
File Under:
Roots rock
RIYL:
Southern Culture Skids, The Band, Cowboy Junkies
Seattle's own, The Penningtones is a band that is not trying to impress. From the three simple photographs that adorn the packaging of their CD, Circle of Fifths, I got the impression that this group of musicians could care less about any sort of pretension. One of the photos, a black and white cover shot, looks down on a second-hand wooden table that's been left outside. On the table, arranged in a circle, seven bottles of spirits (of varying stages of emptiness) cast long shadows in a late afternoon sun. The remaining two photographs depict the band, a group of middle-aged guys and one woman. The first, an old-timey band photograph, catches the group posing and brandishing their instruments. The second is a snapshot of the band immediately before or after a liquored toast, all mugging good-natured smiles, sitting around the fifth-littered table (presumably, the same one shown on the cover). No kids in the picture, but I bet they're somewhere around maybe at practice or with friends. The music doesn't match the lives of the people in the photograph. It's too late for them to go for broke with this. Playing music with friends is just an activity of theirs to bond and to make life a little more fun. It can't be known what type of music the band plays from the pictures, but it can be inferred that the music reflects the simple, homespun feeling the table, the bottles and the faces of the maturing band combine to create. And so it is. The songs in Circle of Fifths is country-tinged roots-rock sung and played with all the experience of older musicians taking a little time off from their other lives.
True to the pictures, The Penningtones, named for founding band members Brent and Rick Pennington, originated from "informal living room jam sessions" the brothers had with some friends. Even now that they're a recording band, they haven't tried to go beyond the casual, loose playing styles and song structures they must have worked out in their living room. And that feeling of friendship and home drenches the music on the CD. The songs and the playing are straightforward and warm. No fancy showboating. No abstract lyrics. Even though I don't like the term they use for their music, "power folk," it does describe the style in the fewest possible words. Their brand of music is rooted in American traditional folk, and it also draws from country, rock, rockabilly, and blues (hence, the "power" part). All these distinctly American styles are thrown into this CD like a savory, messy, greasy potluck meal that washes down with a few gallons of domestic brew.
The disc begins with the intensely likable "So Damn Wrong," a slightly inebriated "heartbreak" southern folk/rock song, driven by several acoustic guitars and a sputtering harmonica. Lead vocalist Brent Pennington delivers his words in a scratchy growl that reminds me of J. Mascis of Dinosaur, Jr. His voice isn't pretty, but it's one that you find yourself rooting for and cheering when it hits those higher notes. Stefanie Hodovance assumes lead vocals on the next track, "Broken Man," a blues/folk ballad for the dumped. Her beautifully deep and soulful voice wears its broken heart on its sleeve. She is, without question, the best new singer in any genre of music - both indie and major label - that I've heard this year. I wish she had more songs on the disc, but she only sings lead vocal on one more song, the melancholy, slow blues of "Words."
On "Baby Likes to Mess Around," Brent Pennington leads the band swiftly through an acoustic-driven rockabilly "cheatin" song. Featured is a fun but brief interplay between acoustic and electric guitars. Of the other songs, only "Wildcat" left me wanting. The folk rock music sounds good, and the song has definite potential. What doesn't work for me, however, is that the lead vocals are performed by the song's writer, Hugh Jones. Not that he has a bad voice, but I just don't think it's ready for "Prime Time."
So there they are, on the picture and in the music on the disc. Just making music for the fun of it, and that genuineness manifests itself throughout the CD. It's good-natured, drunken folk and country rock written and performed by just a bunch of regular "joes" burning off steam from the workweek. Circle of Fifths is a fun-loving CD filled with the standard clichés of "break-ups," "cheatin'," "aggravated murder," and "drinkin'." There's no cover, but management would kindly appreciate a two-drink minimum. Even though they play for fun, a little pocket change never did anyone any harm.
- John
The Penningtones - Circle
of Fifths (Go Kustom)
The Penningtones (Seattle)
bill themselves as power-folk and as evidenced by their latest
release Circle of Fifths on Go-Kustom , they are that and
so much more...self penned songs...harmonies and how..strong players
all the way around...one of the stand out tracks; Baby Likes to
Mess Around is a rock-a-boogie-swing thang, we're just going to
have see them perform...bottom line; The Penningtones are
among the most promising groups to spring from the Emerald City
since back in the day, knowwhaddamean...
COUNTRY STANDARD TIME - December 2001
The Penningtones
Circle of Fifths
(Go-Kustom Rekords)
Seattle's Penningtone's are not a band scrounging to make it in the big time. Both their press information and the photos accompanying this cd suggest a laid back, friends hanging out with friends approach. the same sense of relaxation can be felt in the seven songs that comprise this ep.
Each track rolls slowly and easily into the next. The sound is twangy folk with a focus on subtle harmony and subdued, but highly diverse instrumentation. Varied members of this revolving band write the songs, and their styles are distinct. Songs by Brent Pennington and Hugh Jones have a decidedly more rockabilly or garage flair (the garage influence is made clear with the secret track written by Northwest legends The Sonics), and Stephanie Hodovance and Jimmy Silva's work tends toward the soothing.
While the work is solid overall, the consistently shy and folksy production, and altogether too quiet vocal tracks, do not server the spicier songs as well as they should. - Tamara Bunnell