With all their music being created from an accordion, an upright bass, a guit-jo, a bedpandolin, and their three harmonies, The Loose Acoustic Trio is a very talented band. The band is from Sacramento, Calif. and is made up of three men: Richie Lawrence (accordion), Ken Cooper (guit-jo, bedpandolin) and Steve O’Neill (upright bass).

All three of the band mates exclusively use their vocals with their instruments to make their music. The trio just recently released their second album titled “Sorrow Be Gone,” which features 15 tracks of off beat folk music.

However, the band’s talent may not attract many college students. Because the music is folk, many students may not be able to relate to it as much as they do to today’s alternative and hip hop music. It’s not the kind of songs people can dance to – well maybe if you’re doing a country step dance, but it’s not very easy to sing along to or understand very well.

The fourth track on the album titled “Johnny Appleseed” is literally about Johnny Appleseed. Although the song was inspired by Michael Pollan’s books on “saving the planet through growing and eating right” and supposedly celebrates the man who scattered apple seeds throughout America, many might not get the meaning. All you can really hear is “Oh, Johnny Appleseed.” It’s not a very interesting song even though it has a good meaning behind it because you can’t hear what it’s really about.

“Sorrow Be Gone” is a political song about the how much better life will be after President Bush is gone. It’s really upbeat and they sing really fast so it probably won’t offend anyone who is pro-Bush because you can barely get the jiff of it. The chorus, which comprises of the words “sorrow be gone,” will probably be stuck in your head for days though.

A song that is actually really good is “We All Need More Kindness,” which is about spreading kindness and peace. The lyrics are meaningful and understandable, mainly because most of it consist of “we all need more kindness” – and let’s face it, we do. The lyrics “if we open up our hearts, times won’t be so hard,” is very inspiring and people can relate to it. The music is also slower in this song so it’s easier to get into the rhythm of it.

The band is really talented in their instruments and voices. They are good at being in tune with one another and their voices really meld well together. Their music may not appeal to most college students but it’s not bad. However, it’s not an album that would be recommended to students.

Typhani Yang can be reached at [email protected]