The Reel World Roguetrip Review
Dirty Linen Magazine
December 2005 - January 2006 (#121)
To finish up with one more instrumental group, from the Texas bagpipe tradition (yes, there is one, as regular readers of this column should know) come The Rogues, a pipe-and-percussion quartet that makes an impressive racket.
The mostly instrumental Roguetrip [self-released 2005] features Highland and Breton bagpipes played individually and in splendidly cacophonous duets by pipers E.J. Jones (long mainstay of the Houston band Clandestine) and Jeremy Freeman, who between them also wrote much of the material here. Arrangements are often pipes with just percussion and/or guitar, but keyboards, flute, and a full band show up on a couple of tracks. There are Scottish-style marches, jigs, and slow aires, a couple of sets of Breton dance tunes, an oddly metered visit to Bulgaria, and a bagpipe blues jam. All you kilted cowboys pull on your boots and stomp along!
by Tom Nelligan
