If you want to hear (and feel) great folk-bluegrass-americana music then you have to check out The Gilded Bats! They have a new self-titled cd that came out in the last part of 2007 and it is chock full of great tunes. I just got it for Christmas and can't stop listening to it.

The Gilded Bats are an Iowa City, Iowa band that play old-time string music with some twist to it. If you dont believe me then give a listen to some of the lyrics such as the tune "Baby-O"  or "Give the Fiddler a Dram". The band is made up of Norbert Sarsfield, Andrew Epstein, Bill Bryant, and Chris Clark. I first heard these guys from their Myspace page about a year ago where they had some of their songs to sample.

One of the songs that stayed with me is called "Hail Against the Barn Door" which I then proceeded to bug them to death to release sometime. Well I was very happy to find out that when the CD came out it was the first song on there (and no I am not that egotistical to think my badgering had anything to do with that). But what is even better is that all of the songs on the CD are just as strong and catchy. It's hard to ever find a whole album that you can make a blanket statement like that but in this case it's true. If your not tapping your fingers and your feet listening to this cd then you better have someone check your pulse!

Check out The Gilded Bats at http://www.myspace.com/thegildedbats  and you can also find their CD on iTunes or CD Baby.