Imagine yourself sitting alone in a small hotel room in New York City or even Peoria, trying to figure out just what kind of music keeps drifting through the open transom across the hall — you’re sure there’s something you recognize, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. Is it the words? The melody? Just what the hell is this stuff anyway?

If you’re like most people, you crave familiarity in all aspects of your life — food, music, clothes, companions, and so on. But if you’re like me, you also crave surprises — curveballs that you never see coming, senses and perceptions that never occur to you in your wildest imaginings until they suddenly smack you upside the head

My favorite new surprise is a recording by Moolah Temple String Band called Bullet On The Woodstove. Some readers may remember Smoky Mountain Drum And Bass, an old-time/electronic hybrid from Jackson County a few years back. After their demise, alumni Jonathan Wertheim and Ian Moore formed Moolah Temple String Band. As Jon Yen and Even Moore, they have put together a sound unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, even though I’ve heard many of their songs throughout my life.

Bullet On The Woodstove is a wonderful collection of original songs and real old-time standards of a time gone by, revisited through different eyes in a different time and molded into a new musical form. Some old-timers will recognize titles like “The House Carpenter,” “Handsome Molly” and “Molderin Vine,” but it is highly unlikely they will recognize MTSB’s versions, with their trip-hop and dancehall beats and rhythms and from-another-dimension vocals. The album is a twisted joyride through the history of American music, taking cues from gospel, minstrel shows, tin pan alley, jazz, and (dare I say it) folk music.

A highlight is “Booze Yacht,” a ballad from Harker’s Island remembering a time when a foundering ship full of confiscated liquor had to jettison it’s cargo or sink — the fishermen came home with nets filled with bottles, and consequently no fishing occurred for the next two weeks — a true story, I’m told.

I realize this doesn’t really convey exactly what MTSB sounds like, and the most concise take from Jonathan was Dada Shriner Old Time, a description that poses more questions than it answers. A short list of influences would include: old Velvet Underground, Charlie Poole, Captain Beefheart, The Residents, Reverend J. M. Gates, Harry Partch, Prince, Stockhausen, Ennio Morricone, and Eugene Ionesco. Their absurdist channeling of the American songbag is situationist art at its most entertaining — and in concert, you never really know what’s coming up next. When was the last time you saw a show like that?

Upcoming appearances include a solo appearance with Jonathan as Black Dragon at Guadalupe in Sylva on July 16 and an Aug. 19 show at Broadways in Asheville,. Do yourself a favor and check out these guys — I guarantee you’ll be surprised and entertained.

— Marshall Ballew

(Ballew is a musician and music aficionado living in Sylva.)