Most of their material comes from traditional sources. Many songs have dark undertones, tales of death and misery and lives gone wrong. But there are also gospel shouts, jug band stomps, and old-time fiddle romps to soften the edge. Tarbox sings and hollers with a strong, sinewy, emotional voice. His fingerpicked electric guitar can buzz with an ominous drone, sting with a nasty bite, or jump through perky old tunes. The band also includes fiddler Daniel Kellar, who's equally at home in blues, swing jazz, and old-time styles, stand-up bassist Johnny Sciascia, with his string-slapping roadhouse flair and Elvis shades, and drummer Jon Cohan, who favors deep-voiced bass drums and tom-toms to create a primeval heartbeat. After three years of honing their sound in Boston-area bars, they've recently released their first CD, the highly acclaimed Tarbox Ramblers on Rounder Records.
"It's murder ballads and bump and grind music!" Tarbox explained with a grin last June, over a pint in a Cambridge pub. "It's really fun, but it's based on all the old music that I really like. I think part of why people are attracted to it is that they're somewhat familiar with it even if they don't recognize particular tunes. It's not singer/songwriter stuff. They kind of recognize that it's American music, and it's their music. I think it works because a lot of the songs are about incidents and episodes that are related in a straightforward way. There's an emotion to the music."
Tarbox grew up outside Boston, in Maynard, Massachusetts. "My parents were aware of the Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960s. Friends of theirs had old blues records, jug band recordings, Bob Dylan, Pentangle, the Fugs, the Lovin' Spoonful, Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson. All that was stuff I started hearing through my parents and their friends."
"When I was in high school we played some of that music, plus Chuck Berry, and the Sex Pistols, and punk rock. I played in all kinds of bands — rock bands, freaked-out instrumental bands, improvisational rock bands. Lots of different stuff with feedback and intense percussion. But I always had friends with whom I could play the old-time stuff on the side. I had some friends that knew about it, and I just kept it going. Finally I just landed here, somehow!"
