For friends of Country and Bluegrass music with a punky edge Black Diamond Express to Hell might be fun to listen to.
The bands members are an international mix of musos living in the Mainz/ Wiesbaden area, close to Frankfurt. The band is currently touring Germany and Holland, so if you are living or holidaying in or nearby one of the places listed in their touring calendar you might want to pop in. For up-to-date concert listings, visit: helltrain.info.
For us who can't see them in Europe this summer a small sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDaaOFUer18
From Young Germany:
The group started playing together in 2009. They didn't initially have plans to become a regularly touring band, but would occasionally meet up to try out some of the songs that Stewart, an American who has lived in Germany for the last six years, would bring along. Though four of the Black Diamonds had spent most of their musical careers playing in punk rock bands, they told me, they quickly became fond of the genre and the possibilities it offered. "Playing this kind of music leaves a lot more options open than with punk rock," cajon and harmonica player Martin T explained. "Because we can play acoustically, we can play music on the street or in a tiny pub, even in someone's living room. With punk rock there's a very narrow framework of places you can play and people who will come to your shows." At the moment they are playing concerts almost every weekend.
Black Diamond Express Train to Hell consists of five people (pictured, right) and more than ten instruments. Though Stewart spends most of her time onstage singing, she also occasionally plays the singing saw, washboard, and spoons. Martin T, known for his role as singer in local-underground-punk-legend Tatort Toilet, plays cajon (a drum box), harmonica, and occasionally picks up a guitar. Boriz plays the upright bass, while the Reverend Hank Hezel plays dobro, guitar, and occasionally banjo. The bluegrass banjo player, who the band refer to as Gutter Jack, alternates between guitar, five-string banjo, mandolin, and, most recently, the fiddle.
