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Received your CD. LOVE the whole thing! You all have done a great job with it. I've programed the title track into my show Wednesday and I'll soon be making it available to all of our DJs.
Thanks for getting that to us!

Vicki Abbott
DJ/Assistant Station Manager
The WWB, World Wide Bluegrass.com

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Mighty fine music there gang!
I've already got you added to my playsist for tomorrow nights show on WHAY.
Tune in on the internet at www.hay98.com and give a listen.
Bluegrass Happenin' airs from 5:15 to 8 PM EST.
"Badeye Carson Payne
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Hey guys,
I just got your CD and featured it on my show today. Thanks for sending it my way. Let us know when you get down to this neck of the wood. Roger - WHAN Ashland,VA.

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I really enjoyed several cuts on the
project. However, my favorite is the title cut. In fact, I played it on my
show this morning. The afternoon DJ is also planning on playing it. Keep up the great work! Tim Frye
WPAQ

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I thought "When 2 Worlds Coillide" was awesome! Send it to me and I'll play it on XM. Wichita Rutheford. www.5MinutesWithWichita.com

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Great sounds, Fred! When you get to Nashville (and you'll come, the good ones always do) give me a shout as I'd love to do a story on you and the rest of Copper Kettle. I really enjoyed the song samples on your MySpace page. Your sound reminds me a lot of a cross between the old bluegrass of Bill Monroe and the retro bluegrass sound of the Soggy Bottom Boys. Take care and have a great day ahead! :-)

Lance Yelvington
CyberCountry.com
Nashville, TN, USA

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Good down home bluegrass! (posted on CD Baby)
Reviewer: Mark Bridge - Woods Sounds Records
This is a CD that goes beyond being a good listen. Copper Kettle throws in some interesting twists and turns that makes this a fun listen. With variety running from a new grass feel to solid traditional, there is something here for everyone. Highly recommended!!

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Authentic. That's the word that comes to mind when listening to Copper Kettle's Coal Rabbit. This is bluegrass at its purest--tight instrumentation, haunting lyrics and solid vocals.

On the group's Web site, frontman Fred Skellenger comments of his lyric writing, "I am constantly writing songs. I have written in many styles, but in the last few years I have found this strong feeling about roots music. I like to stay close to tradition when I am working on a song, but sometimes I do stray a little."

Some of the rich nuggets to be mined from this project include the lilting, three-quarter-timed "No Love Sweeter" and the toe-tapping "Fast Train" with it's rollicking chorus: "Like a fast train, going down that line/Like a fast train leaving you behind/no I'm not going to miss you, you messed up my mind."

Clocking in as one of the shortest tracks on the album, instrumental "Don't Care If It Rains" is one you don't want to miss, with a rare showcasing on the album of the beautiful strains of the fiddle. For fans of the mandolin and banjo, the rich sounds of "Blacktop Highway" will keep you coming back for more.

The haunting waltz, "When Two Worlds Collide," mourns of a failing relationship, "There's no place to hide when two worlds collide, and the pieces have broken away/ There's no place to hide when two worlds collide, and the feelings have faded away."

In addition to Skellenger, the group is made up of Andrew Hunt (vocals, guitar), Nancy Hunt (vocals), Ben Herzogg (bass fiddle) and Matthew Check (banjo). The album is worth a listen if for no other reason than Nancy Hunt's pure, sweet harmonies. Whether you're a long-time fan of roots music or new to the genre, Coal Rabbit will be a welcome addition to your CD library.
- Alathea Johnson, Moozikoo.com Staff

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Good Evening Fred: Recieved your CD on Saturday. It really sound great! Will be putting it on this week.

Thanks again Ron
Station Mgr.
WBGW.com

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Thought you’d like to know that your CD ended up being the feature on my show this week. It’ll be on bluegrasscountry.org from next Saturday – 9 times during the week.

Cheers

Mike Kear

Pacific Bluegrass Network

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Title - 'Coal Rabbit' (Fine One Music)
Artist - Copper Kettle

Incorporating the three finger style of banjo playing - a sound far and away associated with Earl Scruggs - Fred Skellenger and Co. have brought to the fore 'Coal Rabbit,' a fine collection that solidly proves that Bluegrass still grows mighty tall in NYC! True that the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' had an awful lot to do with relighting the beloved Bluegrass flame that had long since died in the hearts of a new generation, but all these years on since then and the genre has thankfully never had to bid another sadly-lamented farewell. Skellenger's new band Copper Kettle and their debut CD 'Coal Rabbit' is one fine example of this musical genre and gets to the point from the off with 'Blacktop Highway.' With Nancy Hunt's harmonious vocals drifting throughout, songs such as 'Darlin' Girl,' 'That Letter,' 'No Sweeter Lover' and both 'Rock Me Gently' and 'When Two Worlds Collide' couldn't sound any sweeter. Indeed, with your eyes shut on a Summers day you can quite clearly sense the aura of live one takes, the complete lack of overdubs that so break down and wash away the purity of an original recording in today's musical society. Copper Kettle are what is good about Bluegrass for this millennium and if, like me, you are not yet an aficionado of the genre, buy this CD and become one!
ExclusiveMagazine.com
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New review from Blue Suade News Magazine!
Copper Kettle /Coal Rabbit

This is a nice batch of Bluegrass based material which has a gentler, Folkier feel than the urgent and kind of hyper feel a lot of Bluegrass has. I like it.
They hit in a little harder at the beginning of the CD, but as it wears on they start to remind me of Steven Lehner & Maureen May, who were one of my favorite acts around here until they moved to Nashville quite some time back. Of course Maureen sang most of the lead in the act and here Nancy Thea Hunt is mostly a harmony singer until her lead on the last song, the traditional "The Cuckoo". Most of the CD is original songs though. "No Love Sweeter" seems based upon the same very old song that the Louvin's "Knoxville Girl" is, but with kinder, gentler lyrics.Oh yes they do sing a murder ballad on "Willow Garden", which might well be the traditional song the Louvins used, or a variation upon it. They're based somewhere in New York, though it wasen't apparent from the website exactly where. But hey, I was interested enough to GO to the website! If they play around here I'd go hear'em. Oh well, if you like your bluegrassnot to push so hard, here's some mellower mandolin/guitar/banjo/bassfiddle (with a little occasional fiddle) acoustic Country music. copperkettleband.com -MB Blue Suede News
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Coal Rabbit – 2007 (Copper Kettle)
Reviewed by John Lupton

Among the major East Coast metropolitan areas, Boston and the Baltimore-Washington area have historically been thought of as bluegrass "hotbeds," but the New York City region has also been home to more than a few quality bands and performers, from native sons like Buddy Merriam to transplants like Kentucky-born James Reams, and Copper Kettle fits in here. The core of Copper Kettle is mandolin player Fred Skellenger along with guitarist Andrew T. Hunt and vocalist Nancy Hunt - presumably husband and wife, though the minimal information in the liner notes and on the band's website don't shed much light on who's who. Tony Delello on bass/fiddle and Matt Check on banjo round out the group.

Likewise, there's not much about where these folks are from, but they don't sound like they're from New York, and that's part of their rough-edged charm. On tunes like "Blacktop Highway" and "Darlin' Girl," they seem down-home and at ease, and most of the tunes are originals by Skellenger and Andrew Hunt that are intelligently and honestly written. It's not the flashiest or highest-octane bluegrass to be found, but it's easy-going and very listenable.

(Countrystandardtime.com)

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Hey,

Good stuff, guys & gal! It's hard to decide which cuts to add. It all
sounds great! We're limited by storage constraints, or we'd just add
the entire CD! Your music sure is gonna sound great on MountainEchoes Radio because it fits right into our format!

Thanks for sending Coal Rabbit!

Kevin O'Connell
www.MountainEchoesRadio.com

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Copper Kettle
Coal Rabbit
(Self-Released)
US release date: 1 January 2007
UK release date: Available as import
by Michael Metivier

PopShop
Amazon
Amazon UK
If you didn’t know that Copper Kettle were Brooklyn-based and committed to writing original material, bluegrass cuts like “Blacktop Highway” and “Darlin’” could easily fool, as evidence by the high praise the group has received in the genre’s more traditional haunts. Mandolin-player and bandleader Fred Skellenger sings with a natural earthiness, and never gussies up his sturdy tunes with more than the essentials, and certainly never with feigned aw-shucks corniness. Ably assisted by guitarist and co-writer Andrew Hunt, and Nancy Hunt’s harmonizing, songs like the warbling “No Lover Sweeter” and the appropriately propulsive “Fast Train” are sure to please fans of straight-up bluegrass. A couple of well-traveled traditionals do round out Coal Rabbit, as if to better advertise the group’s knowledge of and passion for bluegrass’s rich legacy. But while finely executed, the gesture isn’t entirely necessary; Copper Kettle is a wonderful surprise from a most unlikely locale, whose own material rings as clear and true.
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COPPER KETTLE-COAL RABBIT [August 2007 Issue]

Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine

While you might not readily find salsa made in New York City, you cannot say the same for bluegrass music. One example is Copper Kettle, a five-piece band based in Brooklyn whose prime focus is on performing original material. "Coal Rabbit" is their latest recording, featuring 14 tunes composed mostly by bandmembers Fred Skellenger and Andrew T. Hunt including "Blacktop Highway," "Fast Train," "Don't Care If It Rains," and others. Also included is a pair of traditional numbers, "Willow Garden" and "The Cuckoo." Throughout "Coal Rabbit," Copper Kettle presents a unique brand of urban bluegrass that has the potential of reaching far beyond the confines of New York City.

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Copper Kettle- Coal Rabbit (www.CopperKettleBand.com) Like Edmonton's Down to the Wood, the core trio of this Brooklyn bluegrass band favours clean arrangements that are bursting with ripe sounds. Comprised largely of original material, Coal Rabbit's songs are traditionally-based in subject matter- critters, highways, lost loves, and guys who just can't get it together. Fred Skellenger and Andy Hunt are fine songwriters, capturing the sounds of the past, while Nancy Thea Hunt provides a feminine twist to the classic bluegrass vocal sound. This is a cool little disc, one well worth taking a chance on, and is every bit as strong as that produced recently by some of the big name bluegrass bands.
Donald TEPLYSKE

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The cd kicks!.... "Copper Kettle does bluegrass that the boyz & galz in the hood can get down with"

Mike P.(Dockside Pub)
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Wow Fred your a song writin' super star! Some good stuff on this CD. Played cuts from it this last Sunday on my Radio show and also on my Monday morning show played the Title tune on my Noon day show on www. worldwidebluegrass. com

Uncle Billy Dunbar

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Wow, Fred! This one is great. Sorry for no reply about it before now. I truly do love this one. Every song is great!!! Keep up that good songwriting! I'll be getting a cut in tomorrow!

Vicki - World Wide Bluegrass Radio

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It's great. I played the 1st song on my show last week.

Wichita Rutheford.. www.5MinutesWithWichita.com

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Fred,
Thanks for selling me the CD, which I listened to today ...
repeatedly ... it is excellent !!! Several or rather eleven hits.
I will NOT be exercising the money back guarantee you offered. Jeffrey R.

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The CD sounds solid. It kicks off really nicely, and the songs are
straight ahead good bluegrass. I think that "Long Pine Box" is my
favorite track on the disc. Matt Winters- WKCR -Moonshine show
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The new album is dead set absolutely brilliant!!

You have clearly mastered the difficult art of playing everything in a minor key, writing and singing songs about heartbreak, human misery and assorted profound human issues and making every song sound extremely happy!!

I have often remarked in my shows that bluegrass is the only musical form I know where people can be murdered all over the place and we still pick and grin and sound extremely happy, and if ever that is true it is certainly true of your new album. I love it.

Geoff Morris
WALL-TO-WALL BLUEGRASS
www. worldwidebluegrass. com
Monday nights from eleven
Friday mornings from six
E. D. T. (U.S.)