An excert from: http://www.thevelvetrut.net
Led by the banjo-playing, songwriting, prone to whooping and hollering Cutch Tuttle (whose name alone seems like it should be emblazoned across the center ring of some old 1920's shellac 78 record) The Hound Dog Hill have been making music "in the old way" for close to seven years now. Joining Tuttle in the full ensemble are fellow stand-out pickers Chris Carpenter on mandolin, Ben Narduzzi on bass, Travis Weaver on guitar, and Michael Giordano on fiddle, and to round out the sound and playing the group's only non-stringed instrument, is one of the finest young harmonica players around, Mr. Mike Emerson.
I didn't come close to seeing the full band that night in Blue Grass, but just a few days later, this past Wednesday in fact, I did make it over to Staunton to check out The Hound Dog Hill when they headlined the city's Bluegrass in The Park, a free concert series held every Wednesday during the summer in Staunton's Gypsy Hill Park. In front of a crowd numbering in the hundreds I got the full taste of what the band calls their "ancient tones".
Their set for Bluegrass in the Park touched on nearly all facets of acoustic string music from the contemporary (a cover of Fred Eaglesmith's "Thirty Years of Farming", which has been made popular in bluegrass circles in recent years thanks in large part to James King), to the high and lonesome (The Stanley Brothers' "Rank Stranger") and finally to the traditional ("I Know You Rider", a song whose life spans back a much greater distance than just the Grateful Dead) and all were presented around a single microphone, with each player taking his round in the spotlight.
But the band's real strength lies in its original material which celebrates and pay homage to the old-time string band sound and the songs come on like an old steam-powered engine, billowing smoke and tearing down the track. And it's songs like "Walkin' Blues", "1985", and "Chewin" (all of which appear on The Hound Dog Hill's latest album Born in Virginia) that have helped earn the band accolades and awards including Best Original Song at the 2007 Appalachian String Band Festival and Best Old Time Band at the 15th Annual Glen Maury Fiddlers' Convention in 2008.
Yes, The Hound Dog Hill rip and they've probably been known to tear it a time or two as well. And when Cutch steps up the microphone and lets it go, there's no mistaking the old-time in his delivery. And when the solos break in, whether it's mandolin or harmonica or that big ol' upright bass, it's spirited, wild, and perfectly rough around the edges. But the real beauty of The Hound Dog Hill is that their sound rings just as true around a burning campfire in a little place called Blue Grass as it does in front of hundreds.
Reviewer - Shaun Harvey