ALBUM REVIEW: RUSTY NAIL – Burnt Prairie, Illinois (2023)

An incredibly interesting take on Celtic-Punk from Saint Louis, Missouri with Rusty Nail who sound just as if Liam Clancy grew up on Nirvana while playing Celtic-Rock originals and traditional Irish Folk down the Pub.

Don’t know what it is about Celtic-Punk bands but despite going through more members than Spinal Tap have drummers they keep on going and growing despite all obstacles. Rusty Nail are another band in the Celtic-Punk scene hurtling towards twenty years together. Founded in St. Louis, Missouri it’s a place that has a rich and interesting history. Known primarily to those whose knowledge of the United States is a bit rusty (groan) as the epicentre of the Western genre of movies it soon after that period became a bustling nineteenth-century industrial mecca with huge numbers of European migrants especially from Ireland and Germany. In just forty years the population grew from 20,000 to 160,000. St. Louis is proud of it’s Irish connections and is twinned with both Galway and Donegal and the Irish community is still vibrant with Gaelic games and culture and tradition flourishing. Just like in the rest of north America what the Irish went through on arrival and for decades after is fascinating and I recommend Bob Corbett’s Dogtown Homepage. Dogtown is the Irish part of St. Louis and the name stems from the time of the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 when poor Irish squatters, living in makeshift shanties in Forest Park, were forced by the fair to move southward to the neighbouring hill.

Rusty Nail current line-up: Alvan Caby – Mandolin / Guitar / Vocals * Kelly LaRussa – Violin * Chad Ross – Electric Guitar / Banjo / Accordion / Bouzouki / Organ * Pete McAvity: Bass Guitar / Electric Guitar (on Never Tell Me To Smile and The Casualty) * Dennis Frentzel – Drums * Additional Musicians : Chris Otto – Irish Whistle / Native American Flutes * Mark Hochberg: Bass Guitar (on Never Tell Me To Smile and The Casualty)

Taking their name from an alcoholic beverage popular from the pre-industrial age made with Whiskey and Drambuie Liqueur Rusty Nail are a seven piece band inspired by the greats of Irish music, past and more modern. Playing regularly around St. Louis’ Irish neighbourhoods on the city’s South Side they soon became a popular and highly sought out act for the areas pubs and music venues. Starting off by playing traditional songs they began to build up a strong repertoire of their own original music gaining a strong reputation for their entertaining and energetic performances and proving themselves as a true-to-form Irish bar band.

It was 2011 when they released their debut album, Boozers, Bastards And Bards. A collection of their own compositions and a handful of Irish Folk covers that gained them great reviews and new friends. This was followed up by Ounce And A Half Of Whiskey in 2015 and Bitter Ale, Bitter Heart the following year where it would later reach #24 in the Best Celtic-Punk Albums of 2016 awards. It was that third album where we first heard them and proclaimed it

“pure infectious dance music (proper dance music that is!) with enough fist in the air moments to give you a bad shoulder in the morning! Like the best in Celtic-Punk its a roller coaster of emotions and the joyous music belies the seriousness of the words and the lyrics often inhabit a dark place precisely because it’s the story of Irish-America. It’s not all shamrocks and shenanigans you know.”

Which brings us onto Burnt Prairie, Illinois and the first Celtic-Punk album of 2023 arriving just a day or two into the new year but with the official release date today. The album is a pure DIY production funded completely with a Kickstarter appeal where their fans pledged money in return for various Rusty Nail goodies and pre-official release copies of the album. The opening track is the the title song ‘Burnt Prairie, Illinois’ and first impressions are that the music is pretty much exclusively acoustic and of Alvan Caby’s distinctive vocals. To my ear Alvan has a touch of Elvis Costello about him and he is also the bands songwriter responsible for all eleven songs here. The video is taken from band practise last May and doesn’t differ too greatly from the album version except perhaps in polish. In the true spirit of Celtic-Punk the songs here tell elaborate stories alongside some pretty damned good music that is expertly played. Though mostly acoustic their is nothing gentle about Rusty Nail and the music is mostly fast paced of the kind that would get even the most staid of fan up and jigging about. The type of band that couples could sit at the back and enjoy the slower more contemplative numbers over a pint or two and the rowdy’s could have a proper good night out on the lash and enjoy slipping over in spilt Guinness with their arms round each other holding themselves up. The opening track changes half way through to maybe as Punky as they get while ‘Seven Angry Winds’ is a beautiful ballad with pure emotion spilling out. ‘Dark Surprise’ and ‘Never Tell Me To Smile’ continue the dark themes but in wildly different styles.

Next up is ‘Just Can’t Leave It Behind’ and the video above is another taken from band practise and doesn’t match the polished version on the album but does give a sense of them live. The flute that features in most of the songs especially next on ‘Never’, gives them a European Celtic-Punk feel as it’s not something I hear a lot of in American bands. Here it is the native American flute played by Chris and it’s an instrument I was slow to embrace but have grown to love. Again I return to dark themes and believe it or not it is quite refreshing to hear these tragic tales as in ‘Evaporate’, ‘Return To March 22’ and ‘The Casualty’ that take us almost to the end. One thing I would have liked to have seen is the lyrics. Maybe they can add them to the Bandcamp site? The curtain comes down on Burnt Prairie, Illinois with the awesome ‘Oh Mother’. A son apologise to his Mammy about a life of disappointment. Slow and mournful with Alvan accompanied only by delicate acoustic guitar and Kelly’s exquisite fiddle. Bayjaysus Alvan I hope this isn’t autobiographical!

One of the things I have learnt on doing this site is the importance of putting out one or two videos when you release an album. They don’t have to be flash, after all ‘flashness’ is not something you would associate with Celtic-Punk, maybe even just filmed in your local Irish pub with a few mates. This I think is a trick Rusty Nail have missed here for Burnt Prairie, Illinois still you can listen to the whole album via the Bandcamp player below where it is available to buy on download or vinyl. Burnt Prairie, Illinois is a fantastic album that really needs to be listened to. Best over the headphones I found but that’s not to say it’s not something that you could party on down to after all can anyone beat the Irish at sad songs played to be danced to?

(Download / Stream Burnt Prairie, Illinois via the Bandcamp player below)

Buy Burnt Prairie, Illinois Bandcamp

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