: Press/Reviews

Hungrytown is American folk music at its zenith . . . retro yet shiny and new, like a freshly minted copper penny. If you’ve been craving folk music of substance, head off to Hungrytown.

On this self-titled debut release, the band's lauded songwriting strength is evident. The nine original tunes rest comfortably alongside two traditional folk songs and a cover of Gene Clark's "With Tomorrow." Folky balladry, upbeat country, bluegrass and even a bit of rock 'n' roll are all featured on the album. This ecleticism serves the band well and gives the production an engaging dynamic. Hall's vocals are wonderful, pitch-perfect and rich in emotion, perfectly paired with Anderson's harmonies. The vocal arrangements range from simple to lush. Hungrytown recalls a number of performances past and present--shades of Judee Sill, Emmylou Harris, Neko Case and The Byrds. Hungrytown is an accomplished and enjoyable folk record. It is both haunting and pleasant, delicate yet arresting. Hall and Anderson have cultivated a wonderful musical rapport that will endear them to many as they continue to tour and record.

DIY Top 12 Picks: June 2008
Hungrytown, the handle for husband-wife duo Ken Anderson and Rebecca Hall, purvey a down-home sound with flair. Cast with fiddles, mandolins, banjos, bluegrass and balladry, their self-titled debut dwells in rustic environs.

In fact, Hungrytown’s music offers such an aura of Americana—in titles and tunes—it could be easily mistaken for traditional transcripts. “Rose or the Briar,” “November Song,” the title track and a willowy cover of Gene Clark’s “With Tomorrow” boast a delicacy that’s engaging. Hall channels the graceful, reassuring presence of Judy Collins and Sandy Denny, while Anderson’s lithe arrangements provide spare but tasteful support. It’s an unassuming offering that could very well put this Hungrytown on the map.

Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson, better known as Hungrytown, have combined a personal and professional relationship for more than 14 years. They’ve also traveled thousands of miles not only across America but overseas, and become one of the more celebrated acoustic duos in the country. The 12-song disc features Hall’s soothing, enticing alto on several haunting, superbly performed numbers like “One Morning in May,” “Rose Or the Briar,” “Every Day,” “Solid Ground” and “On The Other Side....[and] spotlights the sweeping harmonies and close musical ties between Hall and Anderson, plus Anderson’s impressive command of numerous instruments.

Hungrytown is the Vermont-based duo of singer/guitarist Rebecca Hall and singer/multi-instrumentalist Ken Anderson, who on this debut CD present a country-flavored close-harmony sound that mixes in occasional touches of bright, mellow pop. Hall, who handles the lead vocals, has a warm and expressive alto voice that seems to come from somewhere between 1920s North Carolina and 1960s London. The duo's mostly original material blends smart modern lyrics with a traditional Americana feel, as in "Solid Ground," a close-harmony love song in waltz time, and the upbeat bluegrass gospel of "On the Other Side." Hall and Anderson are also adept at borrowing and updating themes from old ballads, as in "One Morning in May," a timeless lament for soldiers gone off to war.

A solidly wrought set reflecting the New England setting where the CD was recorded....Utterly charming and endearing work.

Charm! And so much of it! Listening to this record, I not only want to hear more of them, but I'd also love to be their friend. I'm filled with visions of trudging through the harsh Vermont winter, jug of maple syrup under arm, smile on my face; they've invited me to one of their patented pancake jamborees. And I can hardly wait. Folksy folk who seem like a genuine good time, give 'em a listen!

Hungrytown is easily the best album by Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson. First, it must be said that these two have found a way to be so retro that they make normal retro seem as recent as tomorrow. Ken Anderson's look, in publicity photos, is such that he could step onto an early 1960s television set and instantly fit in. Maybe he would be a comedy writer who doubles as on-air talent. Second, this is the duo's best production by far.

Hungrytown is strong from start to finish, a thing that cannot be truthfully said of many contemporary full-length albums. Third, Hall and Anderson are building on the great strength of their earlier work. Rebecca Hall has a creamy voice that would be perfectly at home in a 1960s soft-rock group, yet she applies a steady mellow tunefulness to a good variety of traditional songs and old-time-oriented originals which often feature moments of darkness and mystery. This duo's edge is buttered on both sides.

Hungrytown is an album that would be welcome on the stereo here anytime.

Hungrytown has a charmingly low-keyed sound. You may think you've heard it before, but if your experience is like mine, you'll have a hard time placing it precisely, which probably means Anderson and Hall are more distinctive than you might have thought on first hearing. If Hungrytown is readily identifiable as a folk outfit, it is not one that sounds like any you've encountered recently. Their writing is richly infused with traditional references and sensibilities. Though it isn't, "Weep Not for Me" could be an antique heart song A.P. Carter picked up on one of his innumerable song-collecting rambles, and it's not the only one. The writing is uniformly strong but always understated, the musicianship first-rate but never ostentatious.

On Hungrytown, Hall’s knack for penning tracks that sound like they withstood the test of time and belong in public domain music records, really shines through. Everything about this hushed music screams, 'Listen!,' even if Hungrytown’s voices never go beyond a whisper.

Husband-and-wife folk duo Hungrytown is as classic as they come, performing original ballads that sound as if they have been passed down from generation to generation. Award-wining songwriter Rebecca Hall lends her smooth voice and understated lyrics, while Ken Anderson’s rich but spare arrangements make use of his multi-instrumental talent.

Hungrytown is the husband and wife duo of singers and multi-instrumentalists Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson. Like the fantastic folk updaters of the late 1960s/early 1970s Pentangle and Fairport Convention, they create new but ancient-sounding deceptively simple masterpieces that include carefully chosen modern elements. Hall’s voice, as clear and beautifully suited to this plainspoken music as Joan Baez and Judy Collins were in the 1960s (and all decades since) or Karen Carpenter in the 1970s, is also a remarkable blend.

Hungrytown has a voice, a look and a songwriting sensibility that would fit seamlessly into A Prairie Home Companion, and that recalls old-Nashville sensibilities--those not-necessarily-spiritual spirituals that are at once comforting, cozy, and haunting.

Hungrytown is the husband-and-wife duo of Ken Anderson and Rebecca Hall, who tour the country in a converted bus that also serves as a mobile recording studio. So it's no wonder that a rural Everywhere is the setting for many of the songs on this album. These songs speak of Home and mean so many places....Rebecca and Ken's songs are well-composed and feel as if they could belong to an earlier generation. Thus, Hungrytown is a beautifully simple album; sparse production allows the instruments and clear, sweet voices to speak for themselves.

Honest-to-goodness, down-home folk songs with an authentic old-time flair. Cast with fiddles, mandolins, banjos, bluegrass, and balladry, [Hungrytown's] self-titled debut boasts a rustic back porch feel that evokes the sounds of traditional Americana....the couple sows organic authenticity at every opportunity.

This Vermont-based duo (Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson) may look from their photos like a pair of 60s schoolteachers out on a sabbatical to tour the coffee-houses, but they’ve produced a totally delightful, all-too-modestly eponymous debut, which is only now gaining a UK release (to coincide with a bout of European touring that sadly is now more than half over) after two years out there in the Stateside marketplace. And not before time, I say.

There’s a breezy, optimistic, straightforwardly life-affirming and gently feelgood quality to this album, one that’s strongly redolent of the approved 60s pop-folk model (think Ian & Sylvia filtered back through echoes of the Carter Family and onward into early Fairport, perhaps) but never feeling copycat or derivative even though Rebecca’s exceptional original compositions (which comprise ten out of the album’s dozen tracks) have all the authentic feel of both the aforementioned period and its relationship to English and Appalachian folk traditions. Songs like "Rose Or The Briar" and "One Morning In May" could almost be fresh discoveries from some obscure folksong treasure-trove, while the delicious "On The Other Side" is nothing short of archetypal bluegrass-gospel; the seriously beautiful "Troubles Change Direction" might have come from an early Simon & Garfunkel collection, and the lilting waltz-time "Hungrytown Road" is a charming backporch reminiscence.

Hungrytown’s version of the traditional "Sylvie" is peerless too, with a juicily ornate arrangement, and fits seamlessly into the album’s programme. Musical settings are often appealingly retro (genial 60s touches such as Hammond organ and pop-folk rhythm section sit easily alongside the rootsier banjo, guitar and fiddle), while the duo’s excellent vocals are a match for their unassuming multi-instrumental skills. The couple’s seductive harmonies are firmly in the “to die for” category, while there’s a touch of the pure, assured Judy Dyble (albeit in a slightly lower register) about Rebecca’s lead vocal on "One Morning In May" and the gorgeous "November Song." The closing track, a soft-edged but persuasive cover of Gene Clark’s "With Tomorrow," may take the 60s vibe into the 70s just a touch, but it retains the duo’s essential credibility and makes me just want to go and play the whole album through again – I just don’t want it to finish! A truly lovely record: one of quiet beauty. Every discerning home should have a copy!

Vermont's Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson have a gentle no nonsense approach to both their delicious harmony singing and their easy going playing. It's never overtly old timey nor fundamentally bluegrass, but a rich mixture of various styles and influences, with an immediately accessible and radio friendly sound.

Apparently former United Nations clerical workers, bespectacled Vancouver husband and wife Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson released their duo debut a couple of years back following his production of her two well received solo albums, but it's only now, to coincide with a bout of international touring, getting wider exposure.

Before you've even heard them, their promotional photos says 60s folk revival (although Ken actually looks like the young Bernard Levin) and it would be easy to imagine them having shared stages with Peter, Paul and Mary and hung out in Greenwich Village clubs. That they tend to play libraries and coffee houses reinforces the preconceptions.

It won't come as too much of a surprise to find that the music fits the image. What's more unexpected is that, in addition to their superb performances (she has an attractive pure voiced alto, he's an accomplished multi-instrumentalist) and the fluidity of their melodies, is that they pull of the trick of sounding both like traditional English folkies and old school Appalachians, often at the same time. More impressively so since ten of the dozen songs are written by Hall, either solo or with her husband.

Featuring harmonica and banjo, the breezy Lucille, Lucille sets the ball rolling with jogalong folk-country tune that conjures up an alternate universe version of Sweetheart of the Rodeo recorded by Gay & Terry Woods. Inspired by the trad tune of the same name, martial beat and bluegrass fuse for One Morning In May's lament for soldiers gone to war while, arranged for oboe, cello, violin and harp, Sylvie is the only fully-fledged traditional number, Hall sounding as of she'd fit right in on a bill with Shirley & Dolly Collins.

Elsewhere, On The Other Side is bouncily authentic old school bluegrass gospel, the harmonised Weep Not For Me could be a lost page from the Carters' family Bible, Rose Or The Briar's tale of a young fellow besotted by a girl with a sharp tongue has the air of some Scottish folk song export while a waltzing Hungrytown Road might have been an Alison Krauss Oh Brother outtake and Troubles Change Direction is a gorgeous campfire lullaby that may well remind you of Nina and Frederick.

They conclude with a softly yearning lilting cover of Gene Clark's lovely With Tomorrow. That it's the weakest song here should tell you much about the strength of their material and why you should seek this out at the earliest opportunity.

FOUR STARS **** "Folk-country musical duo Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson have delivered an impressive debut album that recalls the 1960s folk movement with shades of 1930s Appalachian country music.  It all adds up to a delightful listening experience. . . . don’t miss them!"

!!! MAZZMUSIKA'S HATS OFF: ALL HITS, NO MISSES !!!

Folksinger Rebecca Hall and pop musician Ken Anderson have been married since 1994; they dress like their great-grandparents and walk through life as Hungrytown.

Ken produced the album and plays an impressive number of instruments; his wife does what she did so successfully on her two solo albums (Rebecca Hall Sings!, Sunday Afternoon): singing in an authentic old-time country style. And writing fantastic old-fashioned songs!

One of the best bluegrass bands of the moment, the Virginia Ramblers, play on this CD, and also Michael Merenda (banjo) and Ruth Ungar Merenda (fiddle) from folk group the Mammals.

The record is a tribute to the American art of writing folk songs and there’s not one weak moment. Rebecca’s songs are as good as traditionals and they seem to come out of the past, too. Nevertheless this is not for purists only. It’s a combination of the power of, let’s say, the Carter family and the skill of someone like Ian Tyson (remember Ian & Sylvia…); it all sounds very fresh, particularly Anderson's fine arrangements.

Pop and rock fans will detect some Neil Young and the Byrds here and there. This is a very wonderful record for lovers of acoustic folk and country songs with a classic athmosphere--you might call it timeless.

We've been told that this is a terrific review.

Old school Carter Family bluegrass folk music duo, stepped out of a cloud from another time and place.