STEVE GULLEY & NEW PINNACLE

STEVE GULLEY & NEW PINNACLE
HIGH PEAKS AND NEW GROUND

Rural Rhythm
RUR-1150

Steve Gulley’s career has had a good run. He spent some years with Doyle Lawson and moved on to be a founding member of Mountain Heart and Grasstowne. He also has a number of solo projects, a duo project with songwriting partner Tim Stafford, and he can be found with friend Dale Ann Bradley at the Renfro Valley festivals. Gulley formed New Pinnacle in 2015 and the band currently employs the talents of Bryan Turner (bass), Gary Robinson, Jr., (mandolin), and Matt Cruby (banjo). On this project, Tim Crouch guests on fiddle.

This fourth release for New Pinnacle is a collection of songs from writers Tim Stafford, Thomm Jutz, Carl Jackson, Jon Weisberger, and Gulley himself. The first cut, “Real Shine,” is a Gulley/Stafford tune that’s been popular on many of the bluegrass charts, as was “Aim High” from Weisberger/Mark Simos. Other Gulley/Stafford tunes include “Drowned In Sorrow,” “Leaning Toward Leaving,” “She’s A Taker,” and “Leaving Crazytown.” Gulley and the band also cover Webb Pierce’s “Even Tho” and “Not Now,” a Jackson/Sonya Isaacs collaboration. Other songs include Lewis Joyce’s “The Raging Storm” and Daniel Salyer’s “Just Because You Can.”

Once again, Steve Gulley holds up his excellent reputation as a fine singer and band leader. This release just may have pushed New Pinnacle to a new one. (Rural Rhythm, P.O. Box 750, Mt. Juliet, TN 37121, www.ruralrhythm.com.)BF