The Slocan Ramblers perform “I Don’t Know” in a new video premiering exclusively below. The song appears on the Canadian bluegrass outfit’s upcoming new album, Up The Hill And Through The Fog, set for release on June 10.
The Slocan Ramblers consists of guitarist Darryl Poulsen, mandonlinist Adrian Gross and banjoist Frank Evans, along with bassist Charles James. The band earned the 2020 Momentum Band of the Year Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association, but the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed their momentum.
During that period, Poulsen’s brother passed away and Gross’ father died. Despite the turmoil surrounding the band, the recording sessions held in 2021 resulted in what they describe as a “surprisingly joyous collection of 12 songs intended to uplift and help make sense of the world.” The album was produced by Chris Stringer (Timber Timbre, New Country Rehab) and features 11 originals alongside a cover of Tom Petty’s “A Mind With A Heart of Its Own.”
Among the originals is the recently shared single, “I Don’t Know.” Evans detailed the song, telling JamBase:
“At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, my girlfriend Amy and I happened to be separated by the border between Canada and the United States. Though we tried to be optimistic about a brief lockdown, after a month, it became clear that we were now a long-distance couple for the unforeseeable future. Having a relationship over the phone is hard enough, but with the nature of quarantining, there wasn’t anything ‘new’ or ‘exciting’ going on in our worlds. Talking about what we ate for our daily meals was getting stale.
“We decided to try co-writing together as a new activity, and this was the first song we came up with. I personally find fleshing out a song intimidating, but having Amy (fiddle player and songwriter from Americana duo Golden Shoals) on the other end of the line was just what this song needed to tie up the loose ends. Production-wise, this is our most modern track on the album. Before this, we always recorded live in one room together.
“For Up The Hill And Through The Fog, we wanted to use post-production to its full potential. We had fun with our producer Chris Stringer on this one, who lent all of his production tricks to mirror my modern influences including Jim Croce, The Osborne Brothers, and Jerry Reed.”
Pre-order Up The Hill And Through The Fog here. Watch The Slocan Ramblers performing “I Don’t Know” below:
