Reviews

Billy Strings Strong Bluegrass Roots, Adventurous Mind, Incredible Talent The Future Is Now By Derek Halsey Every once in a while, there comes a young musician on the scene who even the living legends realize is special. That’s the case with Billy Strings. Still in his twenties, Billy came out of nowhere for a lot of…

SI KAHN AND THE LOOPING BROTHERS IT’S A DOG’S LIFE Strictly Country Records No Number Singer-songwriter Si Kahn’s musical collaboration with German bluegrass band the Looping Brothers is a part of a year-long celebration of Si’s 75th birthday. He sings lead on three cuts: “Government On Horseback,” “Going, Going, Gone,” and “Hard Times.” All 13…

BILLY STRINGS HOME Rounder 1166100638    On his second full-length CD, Home, Billy Strings and company prove emphatically that Strings is one of the most exciting and daring creative artists in bluegrass today. Blending the twenty-first century via Doc Watson guitar skills that earned him IBMA Guitarist Of The Year for 2019 with 14 songs he wrote…

DAN EUBANKS LOOK WHAT THE CITY’S DONE No Label No Number Dan Eubanks, the versatile bass player with Special Consensus, showcases his talents on a debut solo album which features his singing and songwriting, as well as his solid bass playing. Six of twelve cuts are originals, two of those co-written with Jon Weisberger and…

THE CHUCK WAGON GANG NO DEPRESSION IN HEAVEN: THE GOSPEL SONGS OF THE CARTER FAMILY Mountain Home MH18682 The vocal power and grace of the Chuck Wagon Gang, in its current iteration, is astonishing and little short of transcendent. As Marty Stuart observes in his heartfelt liner notes for The Gang’s new CD: “The songs…

BLUE HIGHWAY SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY  Rounder Records 1166100620    Twenty-five years—a shade over 9,000 days—is a hard milestone to make in almost any endeavor. To accomplish that in the modern music business, even more so. And to do it in bluegrass earns any band, performer, producer, songwriter, or instrumentalist lifelong status among the best. With their…