Over the course of two weeks, twenty groups from or connected to Nevada City, California crowded into the Brighton Sound Studio to record their songs live and direct into the microphone. Inspired by releases from such seminal record companies like Sun, Motown, Elektra, and Studio One, Grass Roots Record Co.’s Family Album is filled with songs you will want to hear many times over. They are lasting, infectious melodies— honest music in a world where truth telling is a great revolutionary act.

Recorded quickly after the band learned the songs, in live takes, The Moon Came Up is a refreshingly loose and vibrant collection. But despite the spontaneity of the record, the Snegg Band’s evolutionary roots run so deep that, as an ensemble, it almost appears to be an inevitability.