The Short Straw Pickers
The Short Straw Pickers
1/12/2011
Event Rating: ★★½☆☆
Venue: Culture Room (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
This seven-man South Florida based bluegrass group definitely brought hope to the stage. Whether that hope was realized, is another story.
Speckled with harmonies gone bad and a few pitch misunderstandings, the performance certainly had its lows. The band basically showcased its talent during numbers with large gaps in vocal accompaniment.
The fiddle solos, however, were incredible. Leading the way into crescendos and decrescendos, fiddler, Carl Schmid, built up enough musical tension for the audience to hang on every note. And they did, but only until after his solos were done. His fortissimo and piano moments definitely lit up the stage and his wild adrenalized bowing made the crowd stop and stare and then clap and cheer.
Corey Dwyer added nice contrast with his soft sweet notes on the mandolin and his quiet rustic voice on one of their last numbers.
The audience was polite, but seemed a bit unresponsive at times. Whether it was because of the band’s lack of notoriety among the crowd or built up anticipation for the main act (Gaelic Storm,) the audience just wasn’t feeling it, for the most part.
An A for effort and enthusiasm. As for transfer of that energy from the stage to the crowd, let’s just say that the audience wasn’t on the receiving end.
Reviewed by Alex and Gabbi Roland
Tags: bluegrass, Carl Schmid, Corey Dwyer, COUNTRY, Culture Room, fiddle, Gaelic Storm, mandolin, newgrass, The Short Straw Pickers
We, The Short Straw Pickers, are the ones who failed to impress you at the Gaelic Storm show. It’s hard to play to a room full of people who saw a band at the movies and expected a bunch of drinking Jigs, and didn’t expect an opening band. The coldness was palpable, but we put on a smile and played our ORIGINAL material regardless of the crappy vibe that you obviously contributed to. That’s why we were asked to come back to play with the Carolina Chocolate Drops and had a great show in the same room.
Maybe you should come to another show before you slam us like that again.
We’d appreciate it.
Thanks for the scathing review.
The Short Straw Pickers.