[rating=8.00]
Blues and bluegrass, with a touch of ragtime, make interesting bedfellows in this obvious allegory that emphasizes the perils of getting high and the considerable consequences of taking it all to an extreme. This isn’t your granddad’s string band by any means, and while their approach appears to revel in the roots, their raucous, ramshackle set-up allows for an insurgent sound with — pardon the pun — a devil may care attitude that pays no heed to prudence or purity.
Still, The Devil Makes Three manages to eke out their fair share of credibility on Redemption & Ruin given their choice of archival material, songs written by such revered masters as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Townes Van Zandt, Tom Waits and Hank Williams in particular. That allows the trio — Pete Bernhard, Cooper McBean and Lucia Turino — to revel in their confessional delivery. Indeed, if song titles like “Drunken Hearted Man,” “Champagne and Reefer,” “I Gotta Get Drunk,” and “Waiting Around To Die” don’t offer some indication of a fondness to over-imbibe, then their carousing delivery all but seals the deal. The redemption quotient comes with the second half of the set, beginning with the gospel sounds ushered in by “There’ll Be a Jubilee,” but by that point one has to wonder if (A) it’s too late to be saved or (B) they’ve been putting us all on to begin with.
Ultimately, it’s probably best to take this swaggering, suggestive revelry as just that — an exercise in down-home dementia that covers all sides of the divide, from excess to exhilaration, with a rousing earnestness to boot. Little wonder then that several distinguished guests add their voices to this backwoods brouhaha, Emmylou Harris, Duane Eddy, Willie Nelson’s harmonica wiz Mickey Raphael, Darrell Scott, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, and Kenny Malone among them. Still, it’s a credit to the core trio that none of the players who make cameos ever overshadow the proceedings. An exacting if somewhat surprising song cycle detailing sin and salvation, Redemption & Ruin manages to exude a celebratory stance.