Black Twig Pickers: Hobo Handshake

The Black Twigs (a.k.a. Black Twig Pickers) are one of southwest Virginia's best old-time acts, yet they might as well be playing balls-out boogie rock. This trio can do more with fiddle/banjo, guitar and washboard than most bands can with towering stacks and squealing feedback. The Twigs understand that rhythm isn't a question of volume or force -- or feedback and reverb for that matter. It's about timing. Hobo Handshake boasts some truly incendiary throw downs: "Glory in the Meeting House," "Rattletrap" even a seven-minute version of "Train 45." You could call these guys alternative, which some in the old-time community do, but the Twigs aren't indie foreigners tinkering with Appalachian traditions. They are natives who just so happen to be mavericks. There's a subtle but definite difference.

(Ed. note: The band's hometowns are Lexington, Ky., Birmingham, Ala., and Suffolk/Zuni/Great Dismal, Va. But their home base for many years has been Ironto, Va.)

-- Justin Farrar, Strawberry Flats' Best albums of 2008