Two Dollar Goat: Sawed Off and Short

Two Dollar Goat is a Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association Member Band who bring their energetic bluegrass and acoustic music to the Hudson Valley.

If you didn’t catch them at the Arlington Street Fair maybe you came across one of their shows at Keegan’s (never turn down good beer and good bluegrass!) or another local venue.

If you haven’t seen them, you can catch them at the February HVBA Showcase in an up close and personal session.

The band is Iain Birchwood on mandolin and vocals, Kurtus Ulrich on guitar and vocals, and Leigh Draper on bass and banjo. They might be a stripped down band, but when you see everyone young and old having such a good time when they’re playing you know that there’s nothing stripped down about their sound.  The other advantage to a small band is that no one gets lost in the mix, and you get to savor a full dose of each members talent, this bands interplay is really something to see.

“Feast Here Tonight”

Sawed Off and Short is their 2009 live-in-the-studio “demo” (available for download from Amazon. Since you can also listen to samples of the songs at the same page you REALLY need to visit the site). And the fact that you can actually go and listen to samples of all the songs saves you from a really long review 🙂

Give them a listen and you’ll find that they range from the traditional flavors of “Shady Grove,” “Salty Dog Blues,” and “Footprints in The Snow” to the Grateful Dead inspired “Deep Elem Blues” to the laugh-out-loud “28 Tourists.” There’s something for everyone that loves bluegrass here, all delivered at a toe tapping pace that will leave you with a big grin!

The HVBA Showcase with Two Dollar Goat will be on Friday Feb 22nd at Christ Church in Poughkeepsie. Come on out and have a great time!

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