Reviews

DOC AND MERLE WATSON BEAR’S SONIC JOURNALS NEVER THE SAME WAY ONCE, LIVE AT THE BOARDING HOUSE, MAY 1974 Owsley Stanley Foundation No Number In 1974, Doc Watson, along with his exceptionally gifted son Merle and bass accompanist T. Michael Coleman, stood at the absolutely zenith of their music powers. Honed into a frightfully tight…

CHAD DAROU RAISING THE BAR Bell Buckle Records BBR 140 Chad Darou is a resonator guitarist originally from Florida and now resides in Pennsylvania. He also plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, and bass. He’s performed on the Grand Ole Opryand has toured with Bill Keith, James King, The Gibson Brothers, Lonesome River Band, Del Reeves, Bill Harrell,…

JIM LAUDERDALE & ROLAND WHITE YepRoc Records YEP-2597 This recording gives us an insight into two-time Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter Lauderdale’s arrival in Nashville almost forty years ago and first meeting Roland White (the Kentucky Colonels and Country Gazette). They assembled in the summer of 1979 in the basement of Earl Scruggs’ home and created this…

RHONDA VINCENT & THE RAGE BLUEGRASS LEGENDS: LIVE AT THE RYMAN Upper Mgmt. Music UM013 The liner notes contain all one needs to know about this fine project. The CD was made from a live recording on July 14, 2016 during an edition of “Bluegrass Nights” at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Rhonda & The…

DAVID BENEDICT THE GOLDEN ANGLE No Label No Number    Great bluegrass and new acoustic instrumental music abides here in the twenty-first century. Buoyed by the stellar achievements of instrumental pioneers like Bill Monroe, David Grisman, Tony Rice, David Grier, Tony Trischka, Sam Bush, and Bela Fleck, and on to more contemporary artists like Chris Thile,…

RUDI EKSTEIN CAROLINA CHIMES Foxfire Recording No Number Blessed be the tune writers, for they shall give the pickers new things to play. Cursed be the tune writers, for they shall have a hard time getting their new tunes heard. Therefore, many composers of new bluegrass instrumentals have taken the same road followed by mandolinist…