Dirty Linen issue #128 February/March 2007  Annie & the Hedonists Moonglow on the Midway Windy Acres (2005) Annie & the Hedonists, Schenectady's extended tribe of camping and picnicking mischief makers, pull together a harvest of standards that sound new, from the vixen-y opener through Joni Mitchell's infatuated “That Song About the Midway” to Gillian Welch's remorseful over-medicating moonshiner in “Stillhouse.” The mother-daughter harmonies of Annie and Hannah Rosen on vintage jazz standard “Moonglow,” yield felicitous vocal results with the bonus of Hannah's bell-toned recording debut on saxophone. Bassist Betsy Fry adds spunky vocal harmonies on Mike Dowling's “I Caught a Keeper,” as Steve Fry's peppery mandolin turns nearly banal material into something special around Jonny Rosen's hot-blooded rhythm guitar and oddly frothy vocal. Nothing banal about Joni Mitchell's “River,” where guest vocal by Steve and Betsy Fry's daughter Amanda curls into the seasonal folds of memory-redolent melody, backed by Steve's spare piano and John Kirk's delicate fiddle. Annie & the Hedonists have bottled an essence of bohemianism in their Moonglow on the Midway. — Mitch Ritter (Beaverton, OR) © 2007 Dirty Linen, Ltd. Used by permission.