"My take on folk music is that it's always evolving, it's not something to be put in a museum. We're rootless wanderers, we're affected by all kinds of music" says Jeremy Barnes of New Mexican Balkan explorers A Hawk And A Hacksaw. The duo (Barnes and Heather Trost) have bushwhacked far beyond exotic appropriation. You can hear it in Barnes' much improved accordion chops, thanks to years of woodshedding throughout Eastern Europe. Technique is a just a starting point for the feverish, lo-fi visions of Balkan folk tunes contained in their new album Cervantine; the music's experimental sensibility should appeal to Barnes' followers from his Neutral Milk Hotel and Beirut days. With regard to the dreaded "A" word of global musical exploration, Barnes quips: "I guess our music is authentically A Hawk And A Hacksaw."
A Hawk and A Hacksaw For the People
BY David DacksPublished Feb 20, 2011