PRESS ABOUT THE FOGHORNS:
“Seattle-by-way-of-Iceland country-rock combo the Foghorns (who are signed on Wisconsin label Beefy Beef Records to make things even more geographically confusing) are, to put it mildly, a band with catholic tastes. They've stocked their repertoire with a couple of traditional waltzes that sound like something the Smithsonian recorded in Appalachia in the 1950s, but they can also let go with a Black Lips–style stomper when they're ready to rock. One song, "Old Bachelors in Cleveland," twangs like a country song, but sashays with an honest-to-God hula beat. The Foghorns could very well be the local band with the biggest arsenal of genres in their pocket, and they're definitely the best country band in Seattle that can also whip up a catchy synthesizer riff at a moment's notice.”
- Paul Constant, The Seattle Stranger.
“ Like a modern-day Woody Guthrie, Foghorns frontman Bart Cameron has traveled all over this wide world, singing folk songs while meandering ever westward toward the region to which the folk music he plays can trace its roots. Last year, Cameron came to Seattle, added a couple locals to the band’s roster and wasted no time putting out a fifth album on weensy Wisconsin label Beefy Beef Records. The Foghorns’ recorded incarnation features minimalist, introspective strumming, judicious use of twang and a languid pace. New Foghorn Katie Quigley serves as Bart Cameron’s vocal echo, which lends a ghostly, somber feel to the music, doubling the emotional wallop of Cameron’s lovelorn lyrics. But this isn’t happy-go-lucky jug band music; by and large, these are woeful songs about the hard times. It makes sense, then, that Cameron tends to favor locales where the winters are dark, damp and cruel. His is not music to dance to. His is the kind of music you put on at the end of the party, just as the last few people are stumbling out the door, someone’s puking from accidentally drinking a big gulp from a can filled with cigarette butts, and you’re the last person up but can’t go to bed because your most lascivious friend is getting laid in your room…even though it’s your birthday. Sometimes, there’s nothing but the music to comfort you – and that’s why bands like this are so very necessary.”
- Sara Brickner, The Seattle Weekly.
“This week DJ Kevin Cole has taken us on a musical journey that has spanned not only several genres but also the globe. Today’s artist has done that as well. The Foghorns are the brainchild of Bart Cameron who originally hailed from Wisconsin and formed the band as an outlet to play bluegrass/rock music before moving to Brooklyn, NY, where he performed with members of the Cobble Hillbillies. As if that wasn’t enough, after receiving the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, Cameron packed his trunks once again, this time for Iceland. There in addition to his studies, he spent a few years touring the country (often only with a bucket player as accompaniment) and playing music festivals including the Iceland Airwaves music festival. Cameron and the rest of the touring band now reside in the Emerald City and bring us their fifth studio release from the Wisconsin-based label Beefy Beef Records (where according to their website, “so much is at steak”). Today’s song “Old Bachelors in Cleveland” is in a similar vein as fellow Seattlites The Duchess & The Duke (folkadelic) but still maintains its bluegrass roots and instrumentation (namely the slide guitar). The lyrics, laden with melancholy and the harmonies of Cameron and vocalist Katie Quigley invite listeners to continue that journey Bart Cameron started so long ago.”
- Leigh Bezezekoff, KEXP.
“There’s a growing number of country-based folk bands appearing throughout the Seattle area and the latest to warrant your attention is the male/female duo The Foghorns. This week they released their new record, A Diamond As Big As The Motel 6, on Beefy Beef Records. Their home may be Seattle, but they’re not strangers to the world, having resided everywhere from Ireland to Wisconsin to Brooklyn.
The Foghorns’ old-time country-folk is filled with emotive verse, lovable in all its harmony, and the perfect lament for the wanderer. Songs like “Not Every Horse” are ripe with emotion, while others like “Rose” and “Old Bachelors In Cleveland” are just plain excellent. “Brooklyn Bridge” even pulls out pop keyboard riffs and jangle guitar!
These tunes easily place The Foghorns in company with The Banyans for the best new Seattle folk band of the year.”
- Andy Fenstermaker, Fensepost.
“There’s something dark at the melancholy heart of lead Foghorn Bart Cameron’s country-tinged missives of loves past, present and possible. On a low-key two-date Scottish stopover in a stripped-back duo format, some-time Reykjavik resident Cameron’s downbeat demeanour is offset by the honeyed counterpoint of co-vocalist Katie Quigley in a short set of gentle heartbreak. Standing side by side, Cameron in vintage suit, Quigley swaying with hands in print frock pockets, and with only their voices and an acoustic guitar for company, a doleful harmonica sets the tone, with most songs drawn from this year’s Beefy Beefy Records release, ‘A Diamond As Big As The Motel Six.’
Cameron’s milieu is old-time booze-soaked laments deep-fried with dust-bowl languor. The delivery is as contrary to the band name as possible, with only the throwaway rites-of-passage boogie of ‘Brooklyn Bridge,’ when the're joined by Iceland's own Benni Hemm Hemm on drums, coming close to bottle-smashing clatter. Cynicism and idealism step out together on ‘Old Bachelors in Cleveland,’ a gentle sneer at aging singletons
once the narrator’s own true love has come calling. This was presumably written before the adulterous smooch of ‘Sleepy Waltz,’ which, like a Raymond Carver miniature set to a slowed-down n’ woozy melody from The Velvet Underground’s ‘I’m Sticking With You’, shuffles through its after-hours liaison with a set of conflicting emotions that are as bittersweet as they are unrepentant in a swoonalong song worth staying out late for.”
- Neil Cooper, TheList, Edinburgh.
For coming up on a decade, The Foghorns have been presenting their brand of folk blended with punk-- playing the streets of Reykjavik Iceland with an acoustic, a bucket and an overcoat, the clubs of Brooklyn with bluegrass backup, the rowdy bars of the Midwest with a screeching hollowbody.
Finally settling in Seattle in 2008, the band found a home at the Comet Tavern, Blue Moon Tavern, The Tractor and Conor Byrne. In 2009, they released their fifth CD, A Diamond as Big as the Motel Six on Wisconsin-based label Beefy Beef Records.
The blog World's Biggest Corporation once wrote the following paragraph about The Foghorns:
“In the middle of some frozen nowhere, a man is warming up his poor raggedy ass in a cabin, sipping whiskey and dreaming of home. He'd probably feel a lot better if he could hear The Foghorns. Wisconsin native Bart Cameron and his Icelandic pals play bluesy, folky tunes that make reliable companions in the middle of this shitball winter. It's the kind of music that tired people play best."
It's out of date now, but we're still happy with that description.
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