Music Review: Walnut Grove Band

The Walnut Grove Band is a four-piece group that has combined rock and roll with a neo-70’s funk sound with driving bass lines, electric guitar melodies, and a great harmonic sounds from their former drummer, who is now playing second guitar.

The lyrics, written by lead singer and guitarist Mark Stewart are clever, albeit often anti-war and pro-marijuana. His tenor vocals are excellent, if not too quiet. Perhaps it was his microphone at the venue, but he should definitely turn it up so the fans can hear his voice.

Together, the band has a mature sound with clean transitions and excellent use of dynamics to get their musical ideas across to the fans. I look forward to hearing them again.

There is an excellent video of their song “Cheap Guitars” here, and it features a rapper which nicely rounds out the song, and highlights this band’s versatility.

The venue, however, could use a little bit of polish to clean it up and make it more enjoyable for the customers. My wife and I saw them at “Balls Bluff Underground” in historic downtown Leesburg. Accoustically, the square wood panelled walls caused the snare drums to buzz when certain chords were struck. Structurally, the bar needs some work on its broken ceiling and floor tiles, if for no other reason, to avoid the appearance of the place being run down. And I’m sorry to say, the place smelled AWFUL, like rotten vegetables, beer and puke.

Walnut Grove Band has produced four commercially available CD’s containing all original music, and you can get it from Amazon and Tower, or by showing up at one of their gigs. They are also headlining at an upcoming music festival, the SoundQuilt Festival.