The Waybacks - Devolver (2000)

The music features acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, standup bass and brushy drums with harmony vocals... but what do you call it? 'Americana'? 'Newgrass'? 'Crabgrass,' maybe? 'Acoustic Mayhem' is the term that best sums up the sound of The Waybacks... it's everything from Kumbaya-free folk to cowboy jazz to bluegrass, old-time, Tin Pan Alley, both country and western, Celtoid, agnostic gospel, rhumba, beat poetry, space-jam and Grappelli-esque swing, as well as eccentric originals. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Waybacks are Wayne Jacques, Stevie Coyle, James Nash, Chris Kee and Peter Tucker. Nearly a century and a half of musical experience steps onstage with the lads every gig, including professional associations with Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Nanci Griffith, Tim Hardin, Michael Hedges, Peter Rowan, Frank Wakefield, Johnny Paycheck, The Beau Brummels, The Foremen, The Frontmen, Hearts On Fire, Occam's Razor, Me Jane, The Natives, plainjane and Jim Campilongo & The 10-Gallon Cats.
Review

... [The Waybacks'] Devolver album is as fine an example of hot picking as you're likely to find... It's a remarkably assured debut... -- Chris Nickson, Folk Roots Magazine, June, 2000

A terrific record, guys. One of the best I've heard in recent months. -- Charlie Backfish, host of Sunday Street, on WUSB-FM, Stony Brook, NY

Any music fans (like myself) who miss the earlier versions of the David Grisman Quartet would probably enjoy The Waybacks. -- Bill Frater, Freighttrainboogie.com

Breathtaking virtuosity, dazzling pyrotechnics, heartbreaking melodies, foot-stompin, ass-kickin music - thats what it is. And then some. -- Terry McGovern, San Francisco Bay Area televison & radio personality

The Waybacks ... make their mark by stretching the so-called hillbilly music into places you wouldn't expect it to go. -- Brad Kava, San Jose Mercury News, March 7, 2000

Tracklist:
1-1 The Waybacks - Lickkus Interruptus [3:48]
1-2 The Waybacks - Compadres In The Old Sierra Madre [5:13]
1-3 The Waybacks - Gone Wayback [4:02]
1-4 The Waybacks - Been Around [3:35]
1-5 The Waybacks - Scrapple From The Apple [3:41]
1-6 The Waybacks - The Last Steam Engine Train [4:05]
1-7 The Waybacks - I Wan'na Be Like You (The Monkey Song) [5:01]
1-8 The Waybacks - McHattie's Waltz [4:48]
1-9 The Waybacks - The Witch Of The Westmereland [6:20]
1-10 The Waybacks - JNPT [3:41]
1-11 The Waybacks - Cluck Old Hen [8:26]
1-12 The Waybacks - Untitled [0:59]
1-13 The Waybacks - I'm Really Fine [5:11]