Pigeonholing the backwaters of South-East Virginia, fitting The Muckrakes into any one genre is a difficult task because they meld so many vibrant instruments into a heady mash uniquely all their own.
The band was formed after a lengthy search for like minded folks to create original roots inspired rock music and underwent changes before finally finding their notch with music that can shift to quiet and reflective to foot stomping and rambunctious, sometimes pure and innocent, and sometimes dark and moody. This is a rock band with bluegrass guts, ragtime legs, folk sensibilities and a dash of the blues for good measure.
The band released their second full-length CD, titled "Pill Shaped Void" in October 2013. It contains 12 songs of innovative music that's was sonically produced at a time when the band found itself at a crossroad. "Pill Shaped Void" offers a taste of banjos, acoustic guitars and other folksy sounds from The Muckrakes previous efforts but increasingly finds the band punctuating their tales of wanderlust, heartache and life’s uncertainties with piercing electric guitars, spacey keyboards and a muscular rhythm section.
Previous efforts include a five song, self-titled EP release in 2009 which was hailed as, "a stomp strongly through weedy stagnant undergrowth with deftly articulated songs, lyrical stories wrought from heady memories, and true music-craft." In 2011 the band released "Grandiphonia" which consisted of 14 songs that garnered high praise as the group was nominated for "Best Album" by VEER Magazine...this is combined with raucous, maximum rhythm & blues guitars and hard livin’ lyrics to form a song that should be played on every local radio station five times a day for the next six weeks." and "The Muckrakes release is not an album, but an ode to American History. It reverberates with surprises that sound so natural, it’s easy to forget there were no trippy feedback effects back in the Sun Records days."
Together, the group has found the right combination of sweet and sinister, of power and weakness, of new and old and is here to help make the celebration of life a little more rowdy.