Roots Rocking blues, infested with bluegrass, country and hillbilly music, that’s the best description for this duo!  Well a duo is not directly the best way to describe this band, but the core members are indeed two long time friends added with a backup band full of professionals.  Mark Adams is the singer songwriter of the band, Jess Harris (son of Greg Harris from the Flying Burrito Brothers) is producer /guitarist.  Helped out by some of America’s finest like Don Heffington on Drums (Bob Dylan), Pedal Steel hall of famer Jaydee Maness (Vince Gill), Skip Edwards on piano (Lucinda Williams), Dobro virtuoso Mike Witcher (Tony Rice) and fiddle great Megan Lynch, Rancho Deluxe becomes a great country rock outfit! Greg Harris helps them out on Banjo, guitar and vocals as well!

The sound is typical country one with some added accents!  Opener “Too Late” kicks in with a southern sound.  Rocking country with an accentuation on southern rock, seventies style!
“Maintenance Man” however brings us back to the modern country style we all know these days, something they keep doing for a couple of more tunes. On “ghost Town” however, the band shows us what it’s really about. Rocking the song away, each of them gives the best of themselves. Banjo, dobro, piano, fiddle it all comes together in a tune that combines many styles!  If you think this was the only highlight, then check out the instrumental “Bone Rock Breakdown”. Beware cause Hillbillies rule is this town and we all know where it leads if you paid too much attention to movies like deliverance or 2000 Maniacs!  The hillbilly adventure is prolonged in “Pine Street Salon” and “Mercy Me”. The latter is really red hot and rocking while “Pine Street Salon” mixes traditional bluegrass with a modern country approach.  “True Freedom” brings us back to the style of the eighties. Some moody steel guitars, sparse vocals and a touch of nostalgia are the main ingredients for this track.
Guitar (or should I say string) extravaganza can be found on ‘Templeton Gap’! A nice tune where guitars, fiddle, mandolin and more answers each others calls! Dueling to the end, this is a nice example of the craftsmanship of this band.

“True Freedom” is one half country one half old time music. Filled with self-penned tunes Rancho deluxe is one of those rare outfits where the chemistry always works. If it is on their country approach or on the more bluegrass influenced tunes, the band performs like they never did something else. Check them out onwww.ranchodeluxe.org

Mr. Blue Boogie

Album Kindly Submitted by Rancho Deluxe