The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Poor Old Shine revels in old country classics
EARLVILLE >> The Alt-Americana band Poor Old Shine brings their bluegrasstinged old-time country music to the historic main stage at the Earlville Opera House on Friday the 13 of June at 8 p.m.
The band has two records out on Signature Sounds and has gotten rave reviews. “In a time when country music all too often forgets its roots, Poor Old Shine celebrates them -- in everything from gospel, to folk, to straight up bluegrass in their electrifying, foot stomping, hands clapping, washboard scratching show,” said Greg Quinion in his POS review.
“Country music has changed radically in the past decades; sonically and lyrically it can be hard to remember that gospel, folk, and even blues once had a huge influence on songwriters,” Quinion said. “Any band playing the old country classics faces a challenge to make them sound as fresh, urgent, and full of life as they once were. Poor Old Shine’s youthful energy and earnestness made these songs sound as if they were brand new.
“By the end of the first song they had won over an all ages crowd that in large had never heard of, nor seen much of them before and perhaps come mainly out of curiosity rather than any affinity for old-time country music,” Quinion continued.
“The band features combinations of guitars, fiddles, upright bass, drums, banjo, mandolin, and pump organ; all expertly played and complimented by rich vocal harmony. If you like your music played on string instruments that look like they were lovingly plucked from dusty antique stores, and complimented by washboards, boxes, singing saws, and old pump organs, check out Poor Old Shine.”
“A young band, Poor Old Shine has the audacity to show just how weird ‘tradition’ can be, particularly when it whips a singing saw into a pretty good imitation of a theremin [early electronic musical instrument],” wrote reviewer Pat Moran. “When the band goes off script, as when it uses the feedback of two cell phones to lay down a spectral drone on ‘Ghosts Next Door,’ the result fits right in with its more authentic arsenal of fiddle, banjo, washboard, pump organ and drum kit cobbled together from scrap metal. Poor Old Shine charts a course between imitation and innovation, and the tension between those two poles gives its invigorated mountain music a sense of urgency.”
Tickets are $19 general admission, $17 for EOH members and $14 for students. The EOH Theater is wheelchair-accessible-with a ramp and a lift.
For more information, or to reserve your seats, call 315- 691- 3550 or order online at www.earlvilleoperahouse.com. The Opera House is located at 18 E. Main St., Earlville.