Fervor Coulee Bluegrass Blog

Tidalwave Road- The Bonfire Sessions review

Donald Teplyske  |  November 4, 2024

Tidalwave Road The Bonfire Sessions Pinecastle Records

I don't get truly excited about very much, but when I received Tidalwave Road's new EP "The Bonfire Sessions" last week, I was completely stoked.

It is rare to hear bluegrass music that just leaps out of the speakers like this band's does, especially a band I had not previously even heard of.

Apparently, twin brothers Carlie (mandolin) and Daniel Parker (bass) grew up on Tidalwave Road in Rockholds, Kentucky, alongside Carr Creek and just past Bear Hollow Road. With older cousin Ben Parker (banjo) singing lead and amiable guitar player Robert Sulfridge, Tidalwave Road entered a festival band contest a few years ago, and won.

Their prize?

To spend a handful of days recording at The Bonfire Studio in Piedmont, South Carolina, the results of which are released as "The Bonfire Sessions."

The cousins and siblings have been playing around their southern Kentucky home-base for years, with the group having formed in 2012. Sulfridge joined in 2018. Each works full-time outside of bluegrass in a variety of industries, but sound as fully-committed to exploring and expanding the sound of hardcore, Stanley-fired, mountain bluegrass as anyone I've recently encountered.

The album is comprised of four Ben Parker originals and a single song from outside the band, "18" from the pen of Jason Akemon; a member of Blue Grass Boy Stringbean's clan, Akemon is a podcaster and bluegrasser also from the area.

The EP kicks off with an atmospheric murder ballad, a promise to meet again "I'll See You There." Ben Parker's banjo kicks it on this track, his strong voice making hard promises to his "best friend and true lover." It is a dark and bloody one, but sure sounds good.

As mentioned, Akemon, who hosts the Appalachian Imagination weekly, contributes "18," another one where the protagonist finds himself a victim of questionable decision-making.

With an appealing kick-off, "Time and Money" leads us toward Robert Earl Davis and Earl Brothers territory—there is little subtle about this number, nor the one which follows, "My Tortured Heart." It does, however, feature fine guitar fills from Sulfridge and harmony vocal from Carlie.

Each of these songs involve a guy who ends up in jail or worse, so "Open the Gates" is a needed reprieve of salvation. It may come too late for the rounders encountered during earlier songs, but it sure sounds good: the band really cooks here.

I absolutely love the music of Tidalwave Road. This is raw bluegrass that isn't ragged—the band understands the music and execute it flawlessly while coming in at under twenty minutes. I look forward to more music from this band.