Reviews

Kentuckian Michael Prewitt (mandolin, guitar) is a former member of Special Consensus and has toured with them both nationally and internationally. He also has been nominated a couple of times for IBMA’s Momentum Instrumentalist Of The Year.  On this, his second album, Prewitt features not only his instrumental prowess, and his clean baritone vocals, but…

This top-notch quintet out of southern New England has been around since 2013, and on their third album (produced by Scott Vestal) they are in top form with stalwart lead vocals and harmonies, fine picking and provocative songwriting. The band, which was the official IBMA Showcase Band in 2021, consists of: Billy Thibodeau on mandolin,…

Claw hammer banjo player Brad Kolodner has long been a spark plug on the old-timey-Celtic music scene. He’s toured and recorded extensively with his father, Ken, founder of the ground-breaking band Helicon. Brad is also a founder of the acoustic roots quintet Charm City Junction. For his latest outing, an all-instrumental collection of kick-up-your heels…

This accomplished band was founded by three alumni of the final line-up of Doyle Lawson’s Quicksilver: Jerry Cole, Eli Johnston and Stephen Burwell.   Most of the song choices here are utterly familiar: “Let It Snow,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” etc. But the results are…

If there’s a complaint to be made about the Steep Canyon Rangers’ 2021 live album North Carolina Songbook, it’s that it was too short. At eight songs, the album covered a range of artists from Thelonious Monk to James Taylor to Ben E. King to Doc Watson. It met rave reviews and was nominated for…

Listening to the new duo CD from Mike Compton and Joe Newberry feels like reading the manuscript of a lost Faulkner novella discovered at a flea market in Mike Compton’s native Lauderdale County, Mississippi. The stories are real and raw, but disclosed in measured doses, through voices at times tortured and others reverent. It’s music…