The Hackensaw Boys blew up a storm of their own under the elegant dome of The Hanbury Ballroom with their blistering bluegrass on Wednesday.

The six-piece band - occasionally a seven or eight-piece if they can all fit on stage - come from Charlottesville, a hotbed of music-making in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

The Hackensaws - Shiner, Mahlon, Kooky-Eyed Fox, Salvage, Dante J and Four - have been making friends fast all over the US and now in Europe, including DJ Bob Harris who played them on his Radio 2 show last night.

And with good reason. They have an easy-going Southern charm, a sense of humour - mandolin player Mahlon (aka Rob Bullington) even has his own slot to tell a joke during the gig - and they play absolutely barnstorming sets.

Songs like Nashville, Limousine Lady and the singalong Cannonball had the bohemian crowd whirling around in a frenzy one minute and then listening intently to the slower numbers.

Contrary to the cliche about their countrymen, the Hackensaws do have a sense of irony - or at least a knack or well-deployed sarcasm - but thankfully, they are neither an"ironic" bluegrass band nor reverential revivalists.

As Virginians, the Hackensaws are the latest in a long line of bluegrass players that includes the Statler Brothers and The Carter Family but they're also rockers.

They take bluegrass and mix it with pop and punk sensibilities to create a belligerent sound of their own.

In terms of spirit and attitude, the best comparison would be The Pogues or Mano Negra with a nod to The Clash.

They are something to see, too, as they effortlessly switch lead vocals and instruments throughout the set.

Four (Ferd Moyse) and Dante J (Jesse Fiske) trade duties on the upright bass to play fiddle and the harmonica and accordion respectively.

They also sing and probably feed the cat when you're not looking. Shiner (Dave Sickmen) is on lead vocals for most songs with his marvellous gentle but gravelly voice. Kooky-Eyed Fox (Jimmy Stelling), a veteran of another of Charlottesville's finest, The Hogwaller Ramblers, adds banjo and Salvage (Justin Neuhardt), plays charismo and anything else he can find to make a percussive sound.

While the Hackensaw's upbeat numbers are invigorating, arguably slower songs, such as the wonderful Alabama Shamrock, show them at their best.

That is when the vocal harmonies and the instruments really meld into an intoxicating sonic soup.

They were let down a little by the PA system which struggled to balance six acoustic instruments and six harmonising voices. But most PAs would struggle in the circumstances. Besides, you can forgive anything on such a night in such an amazing venue.