Best Local Folk Act

Twang

The tale of Twang actually plays out as the year's great comeback story engineered by a band of perennial never-weres. Never were accepted by the trad-folk crowd -- way too far out in left field as far as instrumentation, song structure, and topic of choice. And, best of all, never were bothered to give a rat's ass about fitting in. Twang are a glorious pastiche of back-porch hootenanny, old-time honky-tonk rags, brown acid, pre-electric popular music, tin-pan alley lyricism, moonshine, and half-baked country ramblings that wrap together as a revelation for American music fans. Taking their love for the oral tradition, which pre-dates recorded music, the band are as devoted to traditional folk forms as they are to boundary stretching; Twang achieve a brilliant balance between the two on their album Second Slam. Paying tribute to Michael Hurley, Conway Twitty, vulcanized rubber, the miracle of a guy named Ken, and impending homicide, Slam is as gonzo as it is beautiful.

-- John O'Neill