Brooklyn-based The Oystermen raise the mood with a set of energetic, infectious good-time tunes that are guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
The Oystermen describe themselves as “a trumpet-and-guitar Americana band from Brooklyn that knows how to bring the party.” Darn Tootin is the band’s sophomore album release, although it’s their first full-length release with a full-band lineup, following 2024’s eponymous debut release. The band started out as a duo, establishing their signature trumpet-and-guitar sound and developing a reputation for mixing jazz, roots, blues, country, and Appalachian folk.
This version of The Oysterman, based in Brooklyn, is very much not to be confused with another band dubbed The Oystermen: a trio based in Damariscotta, Maine, in which two of the three members work as oystermen. This trio released the album Basket of Oysters in 2020.
Darn Tootin consists of nine original songs, eight credited to Kyle Oleksiuk (aka band vocalist Ol’ Stanley) and one written by Oleksiuk with Sam Obrist (a New York-based singer-songwriter), along with five standards or traditional songs. In addition to Ol’ Stanley on vocals and rhythm guitar, the band’s membership extends to Jon Schneider on drums, David Silva (bass), Eddie Joe Antonio (trumpet) and Henry Plotnick on piano. The LP was recorded with the band playing ‘live’ in the studio, in an effort to capture the sound that the band makes in its gigs.
The record opens in rip-roaring fashion, with Blues Right Away (Bluegrass), one of two quite different versions of the same song, the bluegrass version featuring trumpet, mandolin and honky tonk piano solos. Following up is R Train Blues. The New York City subway’s R line runs from Queens, through Manhattan and on to Brooklyn. The song features some tongue-in-cheek lyrics, such as “When the escalator breaks at least you got some stairs, But when they cut off the power on that R train line, well baby you’re just standing there.” St. James Infirmary is a traditional song, which starts off slowly, this tempo lasting approximately a minute and a half, before the pace is picked up. St. James Infirmary was made famous when recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1928.
By the time the LP reaches its halfway point, you’re probably ready for a change of tempo and the Oleksiuk-penned Blue Star delivers it, Ol’ Stanley is in reflective mood, looking up at the night sky and finding a star that reminds him of love lost “Those wise men in the desert, Had something to look forward to, Cause that star in the north was leading them forth, But mine just reminds me of you.” The song benefits from trumpet and electric piano solos.
The other version of Blues Right Away, this time the Chicago edition, comes next, and it’s a slice of pure Chicago blues, with the solos this time being of the guitar and trumpet varieties. A Fool Such As I is a song that will be familiar to many people, being recorded multiple times, firstly being a hit in 1953 for Hank Snow (Now and Then There’s A Fool Such as I), but also by Elvis Presley, who hit the charts in 1959 with (Now and Then There’s) A Fool Such as I and others including Petula Clark and Bob Dylan.
If you are at all into this kind of music, you’re pretty much bound to enjoy this record. Rousing is an appropriate term to use in association with the band’s performances, so full of energy and infectious that it proves difficult to sit still while listening to it; why not try it? The Oystermen must be an absolute hoot to see live, particularly in a small, non-seated venue.
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