Stream “The Feast of Three Arms” from The Pine Box Boys

This week, San Francisco’s horrorbilly/bluegrass bandits The Pine Box Boys will issue their fifth full-length The Feast Of Three Arms. Ahead of its officially-declared street date, and you can stream the album here: LISTEN

Over the course of four prior albums, San Francisco’s The Pine Box Boyshave charted the course of a killer named Willie who, accompanied by a rogue’s gallery of other nefarious types, slashed a bloody career across the south and westward to the territories. On their fifth album, The Feast Of Three Arms, the murder balladeers introduce us to Willie’s cousin, Jubal with No Last Name, and his quest to kill the man that did his mama wrong. This detailed tail is delivered through seventeen movements, with Raww leading each ballad with a spoken oration, setting the scene for each subsequent musical segment of this ominous tale to unfold. Recorded at Coast Recording and mixed at Discrete Recording, both in San Francisco, the album features guest fiddle by Alisa Rose and keys by Nigel Pavao, and artwork by Tabitha “Stabitha” Lahr.
The Pine Box Boys began as a project dreamed up by Lester T. Raww, brought into existence in 2003, a bluegrass band dedicated to both preserving and updating the craft of the southern murder ballad, aspiring to lift the form to operatic heights. Along the way they have slain many lads and lasses, wept for many lost loves, and raised many bitter zombies. Raww himself was weaned on the murder ballad. “Knoxville Girl,” “Pretty Saro, “Omie Wise,” and others were sung by Mama Raww, as she coaxed the troubled troubadour to fitful sleep. Raww tried his hand at composing an original song or two for the band and found that he had struck a vein. Performers of songs of murder and misery, and often described as “horrorbilly” and “bloodgrass,” the band is fully realized with Lester T. Raww on vocals and guitar, Alex “Possum” Carvidi on banjo and keys, Col. Timothy Leather handling the bass, and Steven “Your Uncle” Dodds on drums and percussion.

Photo Credit: Suzanne Gunther Photography