The Mutineers ~ 100% Eclectic String Band Music ~

NEWS: Drover's Bones, The Mutineers 3rd album has been released and is available here: CD Baby   iTunes

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Performance Dates/Video & Audio Clips: Reverbnation / Facebook / Myspace

Page 2 - Video / Photos / LinksContact The Mutineers

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Albums by The Mutineers

"Where Mockingbirds Roam"   "Coal Creek" 

Mutineer Albums available at:

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History 

The Mutineers play traditional folk, blues and old-time country music. With the necessary ingredients (guitar, mandolin, acoustic bass, banjo) the songs are adapted and arranged in ways that are at once traditional and unique. They have been playing in and around the state of Maine since 2003 and have recorded three albums.  The songs are selected, arranged and sung by Stuart MacDonald, who has been collecting, learning and playing traditional folk music for a number of years.  Stuart is joined by Jeff Trippe, a multi-instrumentalist originally from the Southeastern U.S. where he performed with various bands over the years. Jeff has also worked as a solo act and recording artist. Darren Finnegan & Leonard Krill play bass guitar for The Mutineers. They are well-known and respected musicians from the greater Portland area.

Their first record 2005's "Where Mockingbirds Roam" is a collection of traditional songs drawing from the folk, blues and old time country music genres. These songs have been rearranged melodically and lyrically so that they are at once modern and faithful to the rich traditions that created them. The album boasts many styles from the moody slave spiritual "Motherless Child" to the wistful storytelling of "Old Joe's Barroom" to the horse-galloping of "Lily of The West." Complete with a few guest musicians of note, (Kevin Midgley & Gus MacDonald) this record is the sound of three musicians scratching through the old time sound to produce a collection of songs that reveal the wide and varied beauty of traditional folk music.

In 2008, The Mutineers released their 2nd album "Coal Creek." This record is a mix of traditional and original songs ranging from a unique and soulful arrangement of "Barbara Allen" to contemporary pieces which deal frankly with the heartache of loss as well as the redemptions of love and family. The Mutineers' founder and lead vocalist, Stuart MacDonald, demonstrates an uncanny knack for taking the basic idea of an old tune – "The Cuckoo," for example – and giving it a transfusion through new lyrics and fresh arrangement. MacDonald commented on his approach to songwriting: "The depth and beauty in traditional folk music is what got me playing and singing in the first place. This music can't fade away and it informs everything I do as a musician. It's natural that it would start to inform and inspire me when dabbling in writing as well. Both to add to something old and to create something new within that tradition; that's the goal." Many of the songs on the album, though, are entirely original. The title cut, "Coal Creek," is a good example of MacDonald's songwriting, and "Whiskey Road," a collaborative effort from MacDonald and band mate Jeff Trippe, is one man's hard-headed look back at his checkered past.  Guests include Hope Hoffman, Ben MacDonald, Charlie Gaylord, Kevin Midgley & Alan & Kim Bean.

Band members Stuart MacDonald, Jeff Trippe, and Darren Finnegan are thrilled about this latest effort "Drover's Bones", which is by any measure an extremely eclectic album, with songs ranging from bare-bones acoustic numbers to amplified, full-band takes on traditional songs such as “Buffalo Skinners,” an old cowboy song popularized by Woody Guthrie, and “How Long Blues,” a standard from the repertoires of singers such as Leadbelly & Leroy Carr.  H owever, the real stamp on this record is the quality and tone of original songs by MacDonald and Trippe.  The two have collaborated here on the stirring “Vagabond Girl” as well as the contemporary gospel piece, “Take Another Step.”  MacDonald’s “Stephens Green” kicks off the record in fine fashion, and a bluegrass instrumental by Trippe, “OPC (Other People’s Chickens)” serves to push this project into overdrive several tracks in.  Other original songs include MacDonald’s “Walking Alone,” an homage to the dispossessed and downhearted, and Trippe’s “Maiden’s Cliff,” which is a retelling of the legend of a young girl’s tragic death in Maine’s lake country.  Finnegan provides plenty of bottom end across the board, and he is spelled on one tune by guest artist Leonard Krill. This project shows an acute sense of the importance of the proven formats in American folk music, but it is clear that these boys are also willing to listen to their own creative instincts as they seem to take flight in a new direction with virtually every cut.  Drover’s Bones may ride upon the shoulders of the likes of Guthrie, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and even the Dillards, but it certainly stands on its own as well.  It is a cohesive work, tightly played and sung, which deserves to be listened to as a whole by those who love both traditional music and contemporary songwriting.  Besides Krill, guest artists include Bob Colwell, Kevin Midgley, Jay Conway, Greg Hoover, Alex Mills, and Alan Bean.  The record was recorded and mixed at Baked Beans Recording and mastered by Busted Barn. 

Press

“... this is the threepiece string band’s sophomore full-length, a follow-up to 2005’s fine Where Mockingbirds Roam. They don’t change much, emphasizing Stuart MacDonald’s clear vocals, which show impressive range, and a take on acoustic music that’s somewhere between Garcia-Grisman, Merle Travis, and the Old Crow Medicine Show. Their originals, mostly penned by MacDonald, often stand above the traditionals included here, as they seem almost Civil War era in their authenticity . . . Best are the title track — harmonica-fueled and featuring great lines like, “People living wrong, people living right/People praying to the Lord in the middle of the night” — and “Prism,” which MacDonald crafted using his deceased grandmother’s poetry: “Like a prism, I hold my life up to the scrutiny of the sun.””

Sam Pfeifle - Portland Phoenix

“There’s nothing silly about the Mutineers. They declare themselves a pretty serious bunch with the traditional "Motherless Child" which opens their full-length debut, Where Mockingbirds Roam. Singer Stuart MacDonald (who also organized all the arrangements here) has some great flexibility. He can do a high-voiced Neil Young thing, as on "Lakes of Pontchartrain," just as easily as he can do a more low-voiced Richard Thompson on "Lily of the West." The latter tune is probably the coolest one here, helped by Willam Colehower’s drums and cool old-timey lyrics that reference "Shady Grove." Throughout the disc, the trio make good use of their spare instrumentation, never threatening to overpower a song, and showing good restraint in their pacing. As every musician knows, it’s hard to play slow and sound good than to play fast and hope people don’t notice when you screw up. The Mutineers play slow and sound great. ”

Sam Pfeifle - Portland Phoenix

"The Mutineers, from New England, are an acoustic trio whose style harkens back to folk groups from the early 1960's. The dozen selections are a blending of traditional numbers such as "Little Maggie," "Diamond Joe," and "Barbara Allen," along with several original creations. Many of the selections employ drums, piano and electric guitars.”

Bluegrass Unlimited

 “The Mutineers have carved out a niche for themselves with their devotion to traditional songs ranging from folk to blues and old-time country. They are influenced and inspired by the music of Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Hank Williams. Some could say that this is the music that time forgot, but most of us realize it 's the cornerstone of the music that followed. We 're fortunate to have a band like The Mutineers here in Portland , keeping this style of music alive and doing it skillfully." ”

 Aimsel Ponti - Portland Press Herald

 “Mainers who enjoy this type of music have known about this three-piece acoustic band for quite a few years now, even though there have been some personnel changes: Stuart MacDonald is the sole charter member in the group. But the high caliber of the musicianship, and the strong songwriting, have remained consistent since the beginning. This new CD will hopefully help to extend the boundaries of the band’s success beyond the local music scene here in Maine. The disc is comprised of twelve songs, four of which are traditional tunes, and MacDonald has written the others. He got some co-writing help from band mate Jeff Trippe on “Whisky Road”, and from his grandmother’s poetry on “Prism”. MacDonald’s songwriting relies heavily on his love for traditional string band, old time, and British Isles acoustic music. He has managed to honor that foundation without coming off trite or derivational. ”

Bob McKillop - www.mainefolkmusic.com

 “Although Southern Maine is sometimes dismissed by those upstate as an extended arm of big-city Boston, one of the state’s most tightest down-home roots groups is headquartered in this region. The Mutineers, an acoustic trio of seasoned musicians who consistently maintain a tight, clean sound, have come roaring back from their sparkling 2005 debut “Where Mockingbirds Roam” with “Coal Creek,” a blend of wisely arranged traditionals and moving originals. . . Although an abundance of slow songs can often kill the pacing of an album, “Coal Creek” rewards listeners patient enough to enjoy it with true throwback magic. Credit taut musicianship, where every note matters and instruments are wrangled in ways that only true artists could conjure. ”

William Earl - The Switch

 “As pleasant as an unexpected summer evening zephyr is the local acoustic trio The Mutineers. "Where Mockingbirds Roam" is their new CD, and listening to it makes me wish I was sitting on a porch swing watching fireflies and hearing the screen door shut as someone appears with a tray of lemonade and watermelon. This is not to say it 's all roses and sunshine; several Mutineers songs express heartache and blues, but they are perfectly dressed in just the right amount of mandolin, harmonica, banjo, dobro, acoustic bass and certainly guitar. Lead vocalist Stuart MacDonald has a sweet ache in his voice that carries songs like "Delia Blues" along a thorny path of lonesome woes. . . . ”

Aimsel Ponti - Portland Press Herald