Here's the basics: Four guys strap on acoustic instruments and make a lot of clatter (hollering about killing folks with knives, and guns, and poison, etc.) that sounds vaguely 'grassy, but is mostly just noisy. One of the guys plays a banjo and we have a drummer, but we aren't ashamed.

"Murder ballads one after the other, and, not halfway through, enough to make you queasy. Especially the indelible little number The Beauty in Her Face, which goes as far into the mind of a killer as anyone needs to. You know how it s going to end before the first verse does, and you spend the rest of the song trying to make it come out differently." --Greil Marcus, Interview Magazine

"The Pine Box Boys serve up a delicious, devilish brew of dark grass, coarse swampobilly and rugged, aching rootsy country that wanders through haunted alleys, dive bars, deserted mining towns on the wrong side of the tracks in your own home town. Bringing together a cut-loose jangle that occasionally waltzes through a taste of jazz, bluegrass and country folk, their album, "Arkansas Killing Time" sustains a cast of characters and moods while maintaining a distinctive personality throughout. Hitting at the heart of the rural existence, the Pine Box Boys are a must for any even partial fan of artists like Drive By Truckers and Bad Livers." --CDBaby

"When Nick Cave put out his Murder Ballads album some years ago, the ad copy famously read "10 Songs That All End The Same Way." This points up the risk of the form--it's so strictly defined that if it's not done really well, it can get thin and tedious. Nick rose to the challenge, and so do San Francisco's Pine Box Boys, with an excellent collection of brilliantly written songs that manage just the right tone...serious enough to be convincing and a little scary, knowing enough to take wicked delight in the sinful proceedings. Of course it's not just about lyrics, and even though the band's musical chops have continued to grow since they recorded this CD, there's plenty of fine musicianship on display here. A lot of these songs work up a nasty Appalachian groove that'll have you tippin' whiskey and stompin' yer boots. To keep things interesting, a little southwestern/Latin melodic flair finds its way into a couple songs, and in the name of equal opportunity there's even one song where the woman gets to serve up bloody vengeance on her fella. What more could you ask for, other than the next helping?" --Michael, on CDBaby

Web site:  http://www.thepineboxboys.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/pineboxboys