There’s a reason every roller coaster is different. Some folks like the shake and clatter of an old fashioned wooden coaster as you ratchet up to the precipice, while others prefer the loops and barrel rolls of a modern steel structure. To each his own. For The Infamous Stringdusters co-founder Jesse Cobb, he decided that particular ride wasn’t for him. He moved out west and north, settling in the beautiful expanse of Vancouver Island in western Canada. There he recruited some equally talented bandmates and they formed The Unfaithful Servants. Their sophomore album, Fallen Angel, came out a couple of weeks ago.
Not surprisingly, the record revolves around a center of progressive bluegrass. Never Leave You Again tells the tale of a past mistake, not realizing what you have until it’s gone. Real To Touch is more melodic, almost string band pop, and asks, “what has become of all the little things that used to mean so much?” Every bluegrass album needs a good murder ballad, and Buried In the Snow doesn’t disappoint. It starts off with a, pun intended, killer acoustic guitar riff. Big Shots is an instrumental number, with a jazzy bass line, and a funky mandolin, guitar, and fiddle vamp to finish up.
The storytelling throughout the project is stellar. Adeline is a folk ballad that details the lives of a couple, from their high school sweetheart days to the trauma of having her taken by flood waters. Another song that shows off the band’s vocal harmonies is More Than Lovers, this time to a finger-snapping beat. Negativity uses a strum and chop style to insert some tension into a mental health improvement notion that you have to let all those negative feelings go and not command your attention.
Looking up info on The Unfaithful Servants, it appears that outside a singular trip to the IBMA’s and occasional forays all the way east into Alberta, you’re not going to catch them live outside the friendly confines of British Columbia. So if you want to hear the best bluegrass band you’ll never see, go grab a copy of Fallen Angel.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.