Hit & Run Bluegrass

by Lewis Geffen, 05/25/2004

It’s not too often that I pop a CD by a new bluegrass band into the player and find myself listening to several songs over and over again. Or, better yet, listening to the whole CD several times over. But, then again, it’s not every day that I stumble across a new bluegrass band with as much talent, taste and potential as Hit & Run Bluegrass and their debut CD, “Beauty Fades”.

This Colorado-based quintet has plenty to offer fans of contemporary bluegrass music - great picking, soulful vocals, high lonesome harmonies, solid songwriting abilities and great song selection – all melded together with drive, energy and enthusiasm. Hit & Run Bluegrass is comprised of Rebecca Hoggan (guitar), Erin Coats (bass), John Frazier (mandolin), Todd Livingston (dobro) and Aaron Youngberg (banjo).

The musicianship of these young pickers is quite noticeable from the very first listening to “Beauty Fades”. Rebecca Hoggan is a first rate flatpicker, whose debut solo release, "Born in East Virginia" has received national attention in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and Bluegrass Unlimited. Todd Livingston, who favors both bluesy and rip snorting breaks on the dobro, apprenticed with Grammy winner Sally Van Meter and has been gaining attention since he won the 2001 Rockygrass Dobro Championship. John Frazier’s smooth melodies and fills on the mandolin have garnered him recognition as one of Colorado’s premier mandolinists. Aaron Youngberg is a banjo champion and Erin Coats grew up playing the bass since age nine with her banjo-picking dad in Wyoming.

Tim Austin invited Hit & Run to record their debut album at Doobie Shea Studios in Boones Mill, Virginia. “Beauty Fades” includes seven original compositions and five covers. John Frazier demonstrates an ability to craft "classic" sounding originals with familiar themes, and his fondness for flatted thirds, with three very lonesome-sounding originals, “Trouble and Pain,” “Cold Iron Door” and “Goin’ Back To Georgia”. Rebecca Hoggan’s songwriting, on the other hand, is a bit more diverse and contemporary sounding, varying from the soulful and bluesy title track to a barn-burning “How I Curse That Man (I Thought Was Mine)”.

The band also shows imagination and taste in their selection and interpretation interprets of other bluegrass music and traditional tunes. Instead of the ubiquitous covers of Monroe, the Stanley Brothers and others, Hit & Run has the courage to re-arrange a Porter Wagoner song made famous by Dolly Parton, “Lonely Comin’ Down” They also had the good fortune of having the band’s good friend (and former member) Gene Libbea introduce them to two wonderful pieces recorded by Gene and his friends as Woodstock Mountains, Rowland Sally’s “Killing the Blues” and the traditional “Whole World Round.”

Hit & Run is certainly speeding along. From their formation in 2002 with a common vision of authentic-yet-modern bluegrass music, the band went on to win the 2002 Rockygrass Band Competition and the 2003 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest. Their debut CD “Beauty Fades” should win this young bluegrass band a much wider audience and radio airplay. And, with that, a heavier touring schedule around the country. So, here’s to hoping that Hit & Run Bluegrass can stay the course on the road.

MP3 samples available!
Beauty Fades
Cold Iron Door
Old, Old House

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