Poor Man's Poison

Poor Man's Poison are a group of musical friends from California.  They play acoustic music on traditional bluegrass instruments but this is far from traditional sounding.  You get all kinds of influences from folk to reggae in their style.  Think of perhaps Jack Johnson having grown up in Appalachia instead of Hawaii.  I mean this in a really good way.  There is a sweet, laid-back vibe to this record.  Tight harmonies and great playing infuse the songs with such a good feeling.

You can hear their influences throughout the album, proudly worn on their sleeves.  Walkin' owes more than a small debt to Bob Marley, go figure that reggae-bluegrass works and works well.  The lead track At The Winds Will is a standout that pretty much sums up the many talents of this band:  good songs with great harmonies played extremely well.  Slow Down is another track I really liked.  The advice of the band to stop and smell the roses is driven home by a tune that just gets you to downshift a little and catch your breath.  Greedy Man switches things up and is an indictment of our less than charitable sides.  The only miss for me was Christmas Beers which must come off great live but sees to me to be a bit of a throw away.

As the summer ends and we all head back to work or school you would do yourself a solid if you grab this one.  I have a feeling I will be playing it quite a bit.  You can grab this one here.  I suggest that you do.

At The Winds Will


Slow Down


Greedy Man