BLUEGRASS--THE PUNK OF THE AUGHTS:

Grueling Banjos: The Salt Miners dig up the high, lonesome sound of bluegrass (Eve Doster, 1/8/2003, Detroit Metro Times)

The Salt Miners thrive on a stage where distortion has no home and a bola tie is standard garb. And even though they all come from goodly rock 'n' roll beginnings, they have developed their very own version of the modest sound of bluegrass.

Long before Joey Ramone hummed adenoidal 'oh-oh's' and Johnny Thunders threw his head back in sexy abandon, bluegrass was the music that evoked primal surges. Bluegrass was the mother tongue of the rural working class.

"We were looking for a more direct line," says Tim Pak (formerly of Angry Red Planet), who wields the banjo and dobro for the Miners. "This was a natural progression."

"We all see the similarities of this music, to what we were doing before," explains Pak. "It is raw emotional music, straight from the gut."

A few weeks back we posted a story about Luther Wright and the Wrongs' cover of Pink Floyd's The Wall. In case you were wondering, it's terrific. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 16, 2003 9:39 PM