The Ragbirds: A Musical Blender

A fundamental philosophy that I've followed when searching for music is "New and Different." That doesn't mean the music has to be necessarily "new" but "new to me." Enter Ann Arbor, Michigan's "The Ragbirds" and prepare for a blender full of different. The Ragbirds mix folk, pop and middle eastern sounds combined with accomplished lead vocals provided by band founder, Erin Zindle. Other band regulars pull off a perfect blend of instrumentation and spare background vocals; T.J. Zindle, guitar, Dan Hildebrand, bassist, Randall Moore, drums and Tim Dziekan, percussion. Erin also switches between violin, percussion, accordion, banjo and other instruments as well as her lead vocal position.

With the band's August 2009, long-player "Finally Almost Ready, The Ragbirds show their stuff by combining all of their diverse styles into a blender for an entirely pleasing, if eclectic, collection. The first single "Book of Matches" has reached the No. 2 position on the Japanese top 40, but a quick listen will tell you that The Ragbirds are anything but a caterer to the top 40 sound.

"Finally Almost Ready" has many pleasing moments, not counting "Matches", including the mid-tempo rocker "Get In", the folk styled and absolutely wonderful, "The Frame" and toe-tapping, head-rocking "Getting Dark" to name only Four of the 12 great tracks on this CD.

One thing that my son always likes to hear are full-length samples of the music, and since I'm able to do this without compromising copyrights by simply pointing you to the bands web site, I've done that in the link attached to this post. Just click the title of this blog entry to take you there.

You can find more information on the band from their MySpace Page and you can purchase the tracks from AmieStreet Here for a pittance.

You can purchase the CD for $12 (plus shipping) at The Home Grown Music Network.