VARIOUS ARTISTS, CLOSE KIN: OUR ROOTS RUN DEEP

VARIOUS ARTISTS
CLOSE KIN: OUR ROOTS RUN DEEP

Mountain Roads Recordings
MMR-1020

   This recording is a follow-up to the first Close Kin CD that featured bluegrass and old-time musicians playing together. This project, also produced by Johnny Williams, does that. However, the 11 musicians who play and sing on these dozen songs and tunes are all between the ages of 12 and 17, and are all from Virginia or North Carolina. These young people are talented, and they get to display that here.

They open with a rousing version of the old-time tune “Fortune,” with Jared Boyd singing lead and playing old-time fiddle. Daniel Greeson takes a break on bluegrass fiddle. Madison Shepherd adds old-time banjo, with Austin Greer on bluegrass banjo and Cathrine Connor on mandolin. Then Lindsey Nale, who handles most of the lead vocals plus some harmony on this recording, sings “Old Stone Wall.” She also sings “Blackest Crow,” “Don’t You Wish It Was True,” “I Remember,” and “Pluckin’ The Hen.” Jared Boyd sings lead on “Things I Used To Do” and “M.I.S.I.P.” He and Lindsey do “One Morning In May” as a duo. The other instrumentals include “Sandy River Belle,” “Hell Broke Loose In Georgia,” and “Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase.” Other musicians not already mentioned include Kitty Amaral on old-time fiddle, David Chrisley on bass, Jonah Horton on mandolin and guitar, and Clay Russell on bluegrass banjo.

This is still a hybrid music with more solo breaks than would normally be heard in old-time, but it’s very enjoyable to listen to, and these young musicians will likely be heard from again. (Mountain Roads Recordings, 3192 Hwy. 421, Bristol, TN 37620, www.mountainroadsrecordings.com.)SAG