March/April 2004 Issue

A Fix Back East

Tarbox Ramblers. Rounder.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


On their second album, Tarbox Ramblers outgrow a tasteful reverence for roots, making
grimy, thrilling noise. Led by the agonized vocals of Michael Tarbox, this Boston band acts like
the last 40 years never happened, peeling away decades of other folks’ clumsy blues and country-rock
adaptations to reveal the crazed intensity at the music’s core. Tarbox is an inventive guitarist,
unspooling subtle slide licks and raspy boogie riffs, seconded by Daniel Kellar’s ominous violin.
“Honey Babe” echoes the swagger of Howlin’ Wolf, while “Last Month of the Year” blends soaring voices
and pounding drums in an uneasy celebration. A Fix Back East depicts both sin and salvation, but
Tarbox makes the ailment sound more enticing than the cure.

We've never been very good at being conservative.

And usually, that serves us well in doing the ambitious, hard-hitting journalism that you turn to Mother Jones for. But it also means we can't afford to come up short when it comes to scratching together the funds it takes to keep our team firing on all cylinders, and the truth is, we finished our budgeting cycle on June 30 about $100,000 short of our online goal.

This is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell, as our namesake would tell us to do, for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability has a chance at the polls and in the press. If you value our reporting and you can right now, please help us dig out of the $100,000 hole we're starting our new budgeting cycle in with an always-needed and always-appreciated donation today.

payment methods

We've never been very good at being conservative.

And usually, that serves us well in doing the ambitious, hard-hitting journalism that you turn to Mother Jones for. But it also means we can't afford to come up short when it comes to scratching together the funds it takes to keep our team firing on all cylinders, and the truth is, we finished our budgeting cycle on June 30 about $100,000 short of our online goal.

This is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell, as our namesake would tell us to do, for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability has a chance at the polls and in the press. If you value our reporting and you can right now, please help us dig out of the $100,000 hole we're starting our new budgeting cycle in with an always-needed and always-appreciated donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate