There are distinctions separating blues, gospel, country, and rock music, and there's a space between the turn of the last century and the turn of this one. Tarbox Ramblers just prefers not to notice. Led by Michael Tarbox, the Boston trio plays music that sounds like a stack of old 78s melted on top of a CD. On Tarbox Ramblers' self-titled 2000 debut, the covers outnumbered the originals. The new A Fix Back East reverses that, but the old material doesn't sound the least bit out of place beside the new. The group has a sound of its own, but it's not the sort of sound that needs to break with tradition to make itself heard.
The group plays with abandon, and the effect can be hypnotic. Pairing Tarbox's guitar with Daniel Kellar's violin, "Were You There?" creates a bluesy drone in a retelling of the crucifixion that makes a deeper emotional impact in four minutes than The Passion managed in three hours. Recalling a more secular form of devotion, the doomed love tale "Honey Babe" squeezes a single riff for all it's worth. The effect can be entrancing, but the barbed-wire texture of both the music and Tarbox's voice is designed to keep anyone from getting too comfortable.
Comfort, it would seem, belongs to another world entirely. Whether on the traditional "No Night There" or the junkie's lament of "The Shining Sun," Tarbox's mentions of release and happiness have little to do with earthly pleasures, which invariably invite disappointment and even punishment. It's a harsh way to look at the world, but Tarbox Ramblers has found its perspective by standing on the collective wisdom of several centuries of music. When Tarbox's band hits its groove, it's hard not to nod along.