Reviews

IRENE KELLEY BENNY’S TV REPAIR Mountain Fever 190510    There are songs about feelings and moments in time, but some of the best are story songs with characters so real their personalities leap out between the notes. Irene Kelley demonstrates she can write all three. Co-writers includes Terry Herd, Jerry Salley, Ronnie Bowman, Billy Smith, Bill…

DERVISH THE GREAT IRISH SONG BOOK Rounder Records 1166100489 Dervish is a highly-acclaimed ensemble who has devoted many years to bringing new life into the traditional music of Irish folk. The band consists of Cathy Jordan (bodhran, bones), Shane Mitchell (accordion), Liam Kelly (flute, whistles), Michael Holmes (bouzouki), Brian McDonagh (mandola, mandolin, bouzouki), and Tom…

PAPER WINGS CLEMENTINE No Label No Number The second album from Paper Wings features original songs from Wilhelmina Frankzerda and Emily Mann. The sound is old-time, interweaving the fiddle, banjo, and guitar in a percussive, yet melodic groove. The counter harmonies and vocal arrangements are intricate. “Woods And Fields” is a farewell song told in…

MILE TWELVE CITY ON A HILL Delores The Taurus Records DTT0045 This project, the band’s second, includes ten tracks; all but two are originals. The covers are a Richard Thompson number, which opens the CD, and the other is “Where We Started,” written by John Cloyd Miller from the duo Zoe & Cloyd. Bryan Sutton…

DAVID GRIER WAYS OF THE WORLD Dreadnought Recordings 2018    When David Grier burst onto the bluegrass scene in 1991 with his debut release Freewheeling on Rounder Records, it changed bluegrass and flatpicking guitar forever. Son of Blue Grass Boy Lamar Grier, David grew up having Clarence and Roland White come by his house to jam with his…

ANDY STATMAN MONROE BUS Shefa Records Horn-3008     Among the notes and graphics of this outstanding CD is an offstage snapshot of Bill Monroe at the 1966 Roanoke Bluegrass Festival. Walking into the scene at that moment—literally in Monroe’s footsteps—is a 16-year-old from New York City named Andy Statman. Given Statman’s subsequent career as a…