Blue & Gray
New Mexico’s Higher Ground Bluegrass is celebrating 25 years of music with this ninth project. The band was established in 1998 by Duke Weddington, banjo player and primary songwriter, and in the past the band has opened for such artists as Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Tim O’Brien, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Peter Rowan, and each year they are the host band for the Southwest Pickers Annual Bluegrass and Traditional Music Festival in Red River, New Mexico.
On this outing, Weddington is joined by the band’s current membership, Dave Devlin (resonator guitar, mandolin, weissenborn), Laura Leach-Devlin (bass), Pat Mahoney (fiddle), and Ian Fleming (guitar). All the songs on the project were written or co-written by Weddington with four of the members contributing to the vocals.
The all-original selections include “No. 9 Coal,” “Killing Pain,” “Let’s Find A Way,” “Cast Your Nets,” “Tears of Goodbye,” “Back To You,” “Wish I Had A Dollar,” “The Santa Fe Line,” and the title song “Blue & Gray.” The band handles the tunes with skill and the vocals and harmonies are very good. This is a nice celebration of their twenty-five years.
