Grandad's Favorite by The Hot Seats

"Old timey music has probably never been played better than it is by this tremendous band of virtuosic ‘hillbillies.’ On this new album they seamlessly mix a few of their own compositions with ‘public domain’ songs and a few by named writers, ending up with a ‘good time’ album of extreme quality that catches the fire and passion of their live sets! They were known a few years ago as ‘Special Ed and the Shortbus’ but with a few lineup changes they have settled on the Hot Seats. Great band and an excellent album as are its predecessors ." -Americana Roots UK

"At times raucous, ‘Jawbone’, ‘Ain’t A Bit Drunk’, at others faux-innocent, ‘Darlin’ Of Mine’, ‘The Ace’, but always replete with that trademark Virginia swing and coruscating instrumental backing, the question that invariably arises during a Hot Seats’ show or when listening to their recordings is, ‘How can they sing so articulately with tongues poked so firmly into cheeks?’" - Flying Shoes



Summer, 2014

Midway through their 12th year of existence, Richmond VA-based The Hot Seats are releasing their 10th album (on the first four, the band was billed as Special Ed & The Shortbus). Entitled Grandad’s Favorite, the album highlights the band’s ability to dig up and interpret traditional Appalachian fiddle tunes (including the title track, a sweet melody from West Virginia fiddler French Carpenter), honkytonk gems (Faron Young’s “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young”), and flex their own songwriting muscles (“Darlin’ of Mine”, “Had It, Lost It”).

Recorded live to (digital) tape at Minimum Wage Studios in Richmond VA, Grandad’s Favorite conveys both the manic energy The Hot Seats’ live shows as well as the instruments precision with which they approach the music. The album pulls from the well of classic old timey music on tracks like “Old Jawbone,” from Mississippi’s Carter Brothers & Son, and “Tater Patch” & “Old Jimmie Sutton,” both staples of the VA/NC Round Peak jam scenes, while also recognizing the works of more contemporary traditional and neo-traditional artists like Buddy Thomas (“Snakewinder”) and Tommy Thompson of the Red Clay Ramblers (“The Ace”).

Three of the tracks on Grandad’s Favorite feature guest fiddler Lars Prillaman, with whom band fiddler Graham DeZarn grew up playing tunes. These tracks and others on the album also feature double banjo (once a common feature of stringbands, combining the three-finger rolls of Ben Belcher with the downstroke of Josh Bearman). The result is a hard-charging, frenetic, big band sound more reminiscent of the Camp Creek Boys or the Skillet Lickers than of the controlled quietness that has become the trend in modern traditional music. The anchors of this sound are the sweeping chords (and bizarre solos) of guitarist Ed Brogan and the unwavering rhythm of Jake Sellers, who often sounds like multiple percussionists but is, in fact, just one man.

While The Hot Seats have moved away from the bizarre and sometimes scatological humor of their earliest releases, the wit and interest in verbal play is still evident on the album’s two original tracks. “Darlin’ of Mine” is a classic love song with a ragtime bounce; “Had It, Lost It” is a mid-tempo country song about the fleeting nature of beauty, wealth, and health. These songs are supplemented by the hilarity of the foibles of love and lust in “The Ace,” a classic from master songwriter Tommy Thompson, and the trials of being an ugly baby in “I Ain’t No Better Now” from Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers.

Grandad’s Favorite shows a band that is comfortable with its sound. The Hot Seats have never been content to be considered “bluegrass” or “old time”, but have worked to reintroduce the concept of stringband – a band that isn’t constrained to a particular style or musical dogma, but who can slide between genres, extracting the best aspects of each and making the best music they can with those ingredients.

thehotseatsrva.com