In April 2016 the band released Charismo on Free Dirt Records, their first studio album in almost a decade[2] — which was produced by Larry Campbell.
The Hackensaw Boys were founded in the Fall of 1999[3] by Rob Bullington, Tom Peloso, David Sickmen, and Robert "Bobby" St.
[7] The four founding members decided to form an old-time music group — infused with the energy and spirit of punk rock.
[3] Ferd Moyse joined the group at the Town Pump Tavern in Black Mountain, North Carolina where they would often play.
[11] In the Fall of 2000, an enlarged group of twelve musicians departed from Virginia in a 1964 GMC motorcoach,[3] nicknamed "The Dirty Bird", on the six-week Get Some Tour of "theaters, bars, street corners and alleys.
"[12] The bus had been given to the group by Charlottesville developer Oliver Kuttner, together with a second one dubbed "Ramblin' Fever," which went to Mark S. Hahn, then owner of the Blue Moon Diner.
The 2002 tour included headliner Cake, De La Soul, The Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, and Kinky.
In 2003 they served as Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie Louvin's backing band on one of his last nationwide tours.
At the height of their popularity they have played venues in major music towns like Seattle, Asheville, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Knoxville, New York, Portland, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Others to join the ever-evolving group have included Chris "Sawzall" Johnson (1999–2001), Justin "Salvage" Neuhardt (1999–2010), David "Bellows Lugusi" Goldstein (1999–2004), Charlie "C.B."
Ferd "Four" Moyse joined in 2004, Ward "Cousin Spits" Harrison in 2006, Brian "Nugget" Gorby in 2010, and Ben "JuJu" Jacobs in 2012.
He wrote this song and played it over the phone, left a message, kinda sayin', 'Let's not forget where we came from, let's remember to keep it simple and not let things get away from us.
Somehow, the band infuses their grassy tornado with brazen punk attitude and catchy pop structure, while simultaneously remaining vehemently sincere; tracks like "Dance Around" feature prototypically bluegrassian lyrics ("Dancin' with the girls/ That's a mighty fine thing/ You ain't gotta buy no wedding ring") without mocking the traditions from which they came.
in 2007, was a "celebratory but defiant sound culled from old-time mountains, backstage doorways and punishing drives through the evolving American landscape" according to Isthmus/The Daily Page.
with blazing fury.Another reviewer concurred, stating the album "is the Boys at their best, a perfect medium between their raw early years and the more polished sound of their previous release.
6 on the Americana music charts" and "contained nine originals including a couple from the sometimes Modest Mouse, sometimes Hackensaw Tom Peloso.
2 These two collections are "recommended for anyone who feels that time, popularity and (maybe) Don Was has watered down Old Crow Medicine Show, The Hackensaw Boys bring the Appalachian string band roots with punk rock flowers hard and raw.
The titles, bestowed by Ferd Lionel Moyse IV were inspired by the fact that these were the last two recording projects to come out of the old Sound Of Music facility, which has recently moved to a new building in Richmond.
They went on to say that theirs is "a sound once heard on back porches throughout the heartland, now brought to life with the stirring enthusiasm of would-be rock stars performing for appreciative audiences.
[9]New Material - Lineup Change (2018-2019) In January of 2018, the band saw the exit of Ferd Moyse and Brian Gorby, to focus on family and other musical projects.
To round out the new line-up, Chris recommended his astonishingly talent band-mate and pal Caleb Powers for fiddle and vocals.
Invented and played by former band member Justin "Salvage" Neuhardt, who also performed on spoons and the musical saw, it is described as "a home-made tin can contraption.
"[9]Calvin James Pynn of The Tartan (Radford University) states "Neuhardt's charismo" is the "most notable" of the group's instruments: .
a homemade percussion instrument made from tin cans, license plates, a hubcap, and book bag straps, and then mercilessly beat with wire-brush sticks.
[11]Brian Gorby, Neuhardt's friend and former bandmate in the percussion-heavy jam-band Humble Sacrifice, has carried on the charismo's tradition in the Hackensaw Boys as their touring percussionist.
[26] Like the name dictates, the Hacksensaw Boys are all about finger picking banjos, fiddles and baritone harmonies run through the punk rock blue grass ringer.
They are as likely to hit home with hippies as rockabillies, or anyone who wants to raise a glass and stomp a hole through the ole wooden dance floor.
We play at ridiculous tempos, screaming and hollering, seemingly doing musically questionable, possibly atrocious things by pop culture standards, but if you're there and involved with it there's raw excitement.
"[33] "I don't think many people would call us a traditional oldtime band," states bandleader David Sickmen: "I'd say our songs are about ninety percent originals.
"[32] As always, the band has been touring across the country like a pack of mad dogs, delivering the old-time, front-porch sounds of the Blue Ridge Mountains through a filter of punk angst.