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Runaway Planet’s second album, Tarnation, is a very good follow up to No Part of Nothin’. The entire album seems surer of itself and the vocal harmonies are noticeably tighter. I particularly enjoy their take on the traditional song Wayfaring Stranger. The arrangement is not particularly novel, but it is very well done and Greg Alexander’s lead vocal is one of the best things he has recorded. I was also very impressed with the very brief piece by Michael Proveaux, Woman with the Devil Inside. This is an original piece that sounds like it could have been written at the turn of the century. It is direct and simple and all too short.

Runaway Planet is a band that should be seen live to be fully appreciated, but if you can’t see them live, this album does a fair job of replicating one of their sets. The song selection is not slavishly traditional or self-consciously contemporary. Each member has contributed original material to the album and as different as they are each one contributes to the overall identity of the group’s sound. It takes more than just an interesting repertoire to hold an audience’s attention though and what Runaway Planet has is a definite stage presence that has more to do with the way they play together rather than any individual skill or performance. There are more talented, or rather I should say there are more technically proficient musicians out there, but not very many of them manage to work together as well as Runaway Planet does. I’ve seen them live many times and they are one of those groups that seems always to be interested in what each other is doing rather than standing around and waiting their turn for a solo.

I should also point out that the instrumental pieces they have include here are all played with skill, but perhaps because their voices are deeper than a traditional bluegrass band their arrangements even of the instrumentals sounds a littler darker and a little sharper than most traditional bluegrass arrangements. The title track, Tarnation, is a particularly good example of what I’m talking about. To me that type of sound inevitably kindles a memory of kudzu and honeysuckle and Civil War battlegrounds.

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