Up the Hill and Through the Fog

The COVID-19 pandemic exacted a particularly tough toll on The Slocan Ramblers. Bandmates Adrian Gross (mandolin) and Darryl Poulsen (guitar, vocals) both lost family members to the virus while the band’s bassist decided that spending more time at home was the best way to move forward, permanently. Pressing on regardless, the core trio – Gross, Poulsen and Frank Evans (banjo, vocals) – took advantage of their sequestration by honing their respective chops and collaborating at a socially safe distance on the dozen songs that make up Up the Hill and Through the Fog.

With the addition of Charles James on bass, the Toronto-based bluegrass ensemble kicks off its first full-length album since 2018 with ‘I Don’t Know’, a swinging up-tempo tune that establishes an exuberant, uplifting tone that somewhat paradoxically permeates the rest of the material. Even the songs directly inspired by great personal loss – ‘You Said Goodbye’, Poulsen’s lament for his late brother, and ‘The River Roaming Song’, Gross’ elegy for his father – sound more celebratory than sad. But that’s the bluegrass way, forever catalysing inner pain into a palpable evocation of precious life.