> Damnations TX Bring Banjo to the
> Masses
>
> If there's a running tally somewhere of
>the
> world's all-time best second-hand
>purchases,
> add this one to the list: Not too long
>ago,
> Damnations TX singer/bassist Amy Boone
> walked into an Austin pawnshop and
>plunked
> down around $70 for a second-hand
>Washburn
> banjo.
>
> "It was probably my rent money, but it
>was
> cheap!" Boone says of the purchase,
>though it
> was hardly money down the drain. That
>old
> banjo would ultimately prove to be one
>of the
> most defining elements of her fledgling
>band's
> sound, second only to the sweet
>harmonies
> Boone shares with her sister and co-band
> leader Deborah Kelly. Boone's
>contribution
> on banjo is limited to the initial
>purchase,
> however; it's guitarist Rob Bernard's
>spirited
> plucking that drives the Damnations
>live and
> on their Sire debut, Half Mad Moon.
>
> "I envisioned the banjo being in the
>band, but I
> was still new on bass and had enough of
>a
> challenge just to keep getting better
>at that,"
> Boone says. "So, I invited Rob over,
>made him
> some coffee to tantalize him, and asked,
> 'What do you think about playing
>banjo?' He
> said, 'Uh, I'll give it a try.' So he
>sat in my
> house and I strung out a bunch of folk
>songs
> and he learned all the chords."
>
> The prominence of banjo, mandolin and
>the
> aforementioned sisterly harmonies
>betrays the
> group's love of traditional bluegrass,
>country
> and folk music, but there's more than
>enough
> rock in the mix to lend the Damnations
> pseudo-punk cred -- or at least to rub
> traditionalists the wrong way. "There
>are so
> many bluegrass and country purists that
> would probably want to ring our neck,"
>laughs
> Boone. "We basically stick to rock
>venues
> that can handle the crossover type of
>thing."
>
> Half Mad Moon still begs to be filed
>under
> alt-country, but it stands apart from
>the crowd
> of lonesome Son Volt and Whiskeytown
> imitators by virtue of its buoyant,
>infectious
> energy. They're not above a haunting
>melody
> or double-edged lyric, but by and large
>the
> Damnations' spin on the No Depression
> aesthetic actually steers clear of
>depression.
> When the sisters sing of love's
>"hellish kind of
> heaven" in the album's stand-out title
>track,
> painting a grim scene of a rotting
>relationship
> with the line, "It's been a long time
>let's have
> ourselves a quarrel/Let's go sit upon
>our drunk
> and lazy laurels," they do so over an
>insanely
> sprightly Appalachian jig that demands
>a fervid
> dance. It's a compelling approach that
>comes
> off even better in their
>anything-but-lazy live
> show, making the Damnations the best
> Yankee-born Texas act since Jerry Jeff
>Walker
> ditched his New York folkie schtick for
> Austin's outlaw boho in the early
>Seventies.
> Boone and Kelly, you see, were born in
> Schoharie, N.Y., and didn't move to
>Austin
> until some ten years ago.
>
> "We saw a lot of bluegrass as kids
>growing up
> in upstate New York," explains Boone,
>noting
> that most of their Texas fans don't
>seem too
> bothered by the Yankee thing. "It's not
>like we
> came from Brooklyn and moved here or
> anything. We grew up in a town ten times
> smaller than this one. I guess people
>here
> have accepted that we took the country
> instead of the Yank part, and threw the
>Yank
> part out."
>
> Both sisters are now proud to call
>Austin
> home, though their Lone Star allegiance
>has
> nothing to do with the "TX" at the end
>of their
> band name. That, alas, was a reluctant
> concession to avoid confusion with all
>the
> other damned bands flaunting the same
>name
> or variations thereof. "We shouldn't
>have been
> surprised to hear that there were other
>bands,
> because it's actually a generic name,"
>says
> Kelly. "But once you get used to a
>name, it's
> your identity. We tried to change it
>for a week
> and it didn't work. It's pretty
>traumatic for a
> band to have to change its name."
>
> Were any formal challenges ever issued
>to the
> other name-holders?
>
> "Actually," laughs Kelly, "I wanted to
>get a
> hold of one of them and have them come
>to
> our record release party to do a song
>with us,
> because it'd be fun to put them in
>front of our
> fans and then go, 'We want to kick this
>band's
> ass!' But I don't think we would win,
>because I
> saw a picture of them in a magazine and
>they
> just look so gnarly and full on ...
>what you'd
> expect a band called Damnations to look
>like.
> *Nothing* like us."
>
> RICHARD SKANSE (February 19, 1999)
>
