11 November 2011

By Joyce Henry | ResonateNews.com

Isn’t it everyone’s childhood fantasy to be in a family band? There’s mom playing the piano with the rest of us standing round, hot chocolate in hand, singing the melodies of our memories. The Ramseys are living our dream in the form of Rambellwood — an East Texas band launched in 1998. They’ve even manage to throw in cabinet making, organic farming and simple country living — every aging hippie’s dream. While their music is barely a whispered impression of the icons of the 60s, it certainly does reflect a tightly knit family folk — a rarity today. Their second CD is slated for release before the end of this year. They are also playing at 8 p.m. Nov. 19 at Come Together Trading Company in Canton, Texas. It's well worth checking out I’d say.

Everyone gets into this family act — even little Matthew (age 6 or 7 maybe). I’m looking forward to hearing Sarah Anne (age 10 or 11) play her violin. Between them all they have it covered, strings, keys, drums, vocals and even audio engineering. The sound is more than palatable — not easy-listening, but easy to listen to. I’d ease up on the reverb just a bit, and the lyrics can be a bit over stated at times — angst extraordinaire. But they are young and they have experienced more than their share of angst in the last year. Rambellwood’s matriarch, Bonny, has been fighting cancer and happily winning the battle, but not without cost to the family. Perhaps the cost is innocence. The world can be a hard place and that truth shows up in some of their lyrics.  Keep winning, Bonny.

Listening to “Windowpane” — a recently recorded song with an accompanying music video on their website — you can hear that deep longing for things as they were when the world was right. The parallel open fifths provide a haunted longing while the insistent rhythm guitar keeps you moving into the future. A general hallmark of Rambellwood is that forward motion of the instrumentation in their work and they are not afraid to use unique vocal tonalities in creative ways. The musical skill of the group is well evident. 

If Rambellwood is searching and longing, the comfort is that they know for Whom they long. They know the Answers to their questions. This kind of musical entertainment is good for the heart soul and the spirit. Tune in for the future of this group. It's definitely more than one would expect from a homey family band — they have potential to make a mark on Kingdom music.

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