This Land Is His Land: Roaming Through Woody Guthrie’s New York
YOU say you want to have a close encounter with Woody Guthrie, to follow his footsteps to greatness, to lay eyes on the places where American music history was made: where Woody first met Pete Seeger; where Bob Dylan first showed up on Woody’s doorstep; where Woody strummed and plucked with Lead Belly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee; where he wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” “Vigilante Man,” “The Sinking of the Reuben James” and many,
Demolition String Duo to Record on Wax Cylinders at the Edison Laboratory
Wax cylinder recording session, Thursday, October 30 at 7:00 pm
WEST ORANGE, NJ –On October 30, visitors to Thomas Edison National Historical Park will have the opportunity to watch and listen as the Demolition String Duo makes recording history. Elena Skye and Boo Reiners are the featured artists at a wax cylinder phonograph recording session taking place on Thursday evening, October 30 at 7:00 pm in Building 11 of Thomas Edison’s historic West Orange Laboratory.
Star Ledger
TRIS McCALL/STAR LEDGER: There are many country-folk revivalists in New Jersey, but few as reliably entertaining as Hoboken’s Demolition String Band. Singers Elena Skye and Boo Reiners and their accompanists are traditionalists, and their appreciation of old-time bluegrass is absolutely sincere — there’s nothing staid about their delivery, which has the swing of Ricky Skaggs and the comfort of Jerry Garcia’s Old and in the Way.
BARRY MAZOR/ROOTS WATCH – SOME RECORDS I THINK YOU OUGHT TO HEAR: The New York area favorites Demolition String Band, fronted by my own very talented old friends and one-time neighbors Elena Skye and Boo Reiners, have always matched quality bluegrass style (and level) instrumental chops with edgy song choices and creations; their new one on Varese Sarabande Records, Gracious Days, takes on writers from the Ramones to Mickey Newbury, and several strong compositions from Elen.
San Diego Entertainer
MARY LEARY/SAN DIEGO ENTERTAINER: There’s an air of wildness; of something cool and sharp in the air, with Demolition String Band. The duo bristles with a restlessness that’s at the heart of some of the most exciting American roots music. It’s that sense of suddenly leaving town for no apparent reason, or on the strength of a rumor. It’s about dropping your husband’s hand at a county fair ‘cause some handsome stranger – who’s probably “trouble” — strides by;
New York Music Daily
Demolition String Band: Brilliant Country and Bluegrass
Demolition String Band’s new album Gracious Days is a kind of record that doesn’t get made very often anymore. It answers the question of what would happen if two of the most esteemed players on the New York country scene were turned loose in the studio with unlimited instruments and unlimited time, something Varese Vintage apparently decided to do, with delicious results. The production is absolutely gorgeous,
DIFFERENT KINDS OF LOVE (Breaking Records)
BILLBOARD: “Demolition String Band’s fourth album “Different Kinds of Love,” released in late 2007 on versatile indie Breaking Records, delivers on the group’s beloved mix of bluegrass, honky-tonk, rock and Bayou ooze, highlighted by whimsical “Letters,” an ode to a modern-day techno-bunco. Skye and company are primed to rope in triple A here, while the 13-track full-length has further potential at country with vigorous “Wisteria,” wedding wish “I Wanna Wear White” and collaborative throwdown “Who Taught You.” Demolition’s members are across-the-board connoisseurs: master instrumentalists,
Pulling Up Atlantis (Okra-Tone/KOCH)
NO DEPRESSION: ‘Pulling Up Atlantis’ offers a blend of rock and bluesy ballads with the pumping electric country numbers, almost all of which explore very contemporary and complicated relationships, often from the view of a tough, vulnerable and resilient woman who will hang in there, maybe even thrive, despite everything…”
SANTA MONICA MIRROR: “Skye’s singing is powerful but mindful of the quiet ache in the voice that can communicate as much as a howl.
Where The Wild Wild Flowers Grow: The Songs Of Ola Belle Reed (Okra-Tone/KOCH)
ROLLING STONE.COM: “Thank you Elena Skye and Boo Reiners for honoring the late Ola Belle Reed, a remarkable banjoist, songwriter and Appalachian music legend.”
LENNY KAYE/author, guitarist PATTI SMITH GROUP, ROCK & ROLL H.O.F. MEMBER: “This resurrection of a deserving and incandescent artist has all the hallmarks of a spiritual channeling: Ola Belle is recreated for a new century. May she for ever ring!”
One Dog Town (North Hollow Records)
VILLAGE VOICE: “The Hoboken based Ms. Skye and her boys have released a fetching new album “One Dog Town” featuring her lovely vocals and mandolin and the instrumental prowess of Boo Reiners.”
NEW YORK TIMES: “One Dog Town is a collection of eleven songs written by Elena Skye whose skeletal sound and skeletal instrumental has drawn comparisons to Cowboy Junkies and Son Volt”
DATELINE MEMPHIS: “The DSB’s raw energy and pared down instrumentation on its new CD One Dog Town have more in common with Elvis’ Sun Sessions than with most country records coming out of Nashville today.”