Reviews

MOUNTAIN HIGHWAY TRADITION No Label No Number Having emceed twice for this group, I’ve witnessed their rapid growth on stage and in their music over the last couple of years, therefore my objectivity may be slightly biased. However, I think my positive impression is well merited. The bluegrass community is blessed with many family groups…

RICK FARIS BREAKING IN LONESOME Dark Shadow Recording DSR201901    Rick’s website indicates he lives in Topeka, Kans., but tours professionally with the world-trotting, Grammy-nominated bluegrass band Special Consensus from Chicago. He’s been on five of the band’s recordings, playing mandolin and guitar, as well as lending his tenor voice to the band. This is his…

Rob Ickes Expanding The Horizons Of The Resonator Guitar By Dick Spottswood No one seems quite sure who first discovered the steel guitar or the sound you get that creates glissando effects by sliding a solid object up and down a taut string attached to a resonant body. Hawaiian tradition credits Joseph Kekuku (1874-1932) who…

WHAT COULD BE SAVED: BOOKMATCHED NOVELLAS AND STORIES BY GREGORY SPATZ Tupelo Press 9781946482174. 226 pp., www.tupelopress.org. For readers of this magazine, Greg Spatz is mostly known for his recordings and performances as the two-decades-long fiddler for John Reischman & The Jaybirds. In his day job (which he works at night as well), he’s a…

SERENE GREEN HAVE AT IT Patuxent Music CD-335 Producer Tom Mindte and his Maryland-based Patuxent Music label have established a well-deserved reputation for giving recording opportunities to bluegrass veterans such as Frank Wakefield and Dede Wyland as well as up-and-coming younger players trying to establish a foothold. Serene Green is a Pennsylvania-based quartet from the…

DOYLE LAWSON AND QUICKSILVER LIVE IN PRAGUE Billy Blue Records BBR-1051    One of the great things about bluegrass music is the authenticity and ability to perform live what has been captured in the studio. Live in Prague exemplifies this point. The recording quality is excellent. You can tell it’s a live recording, but the quality of sound…