Reviews

VARIOUS ARTISTS SHE’S NOT HERE (SONGS WRITTEN BY DALE McKINNEY) 9 Lives Records No Number This ten-song collection, all written by Dale McKinney and performed by various artists, is tricky to catalog. It’s been released to support the initial single “She’s Not Here,” performed by CJ the DJ & Kentucky Rain, but it isn’t branded…

JAM SONGBOOK BY PETE WERNICK AND LIAM PURCELL. 9780578212333. 46 pp. (www.drbanjo.com) It’s rare to find a songbook that combines an easy-to-follow format with a lot of good, helpful information. This one ticks all the boxes for becoming the go-to jam songbook. Developed by Pete Wernick (who should be well known to readers of this…

BIG COUNTRY BLUEGRASS MOUNTAINS, MAMAS AND MEMORIES Rebel Records REB-CD-1872 Big Country Bluegrass is known as a band that performs no-nonsense straight-ahead bluegrass, and with 32 years and over a dozen recordings behind them, they have not wavered. Mountains, Mamas And Memoriesis very much in that tradition, with 12 cuts of prime traditional bluegrass featuring polished…

TRICIA ANN EAVES OLD TRAILS, NEW BEGINNINGS No Label No Number Tricia Ann Eaves may be a new name to some, but she’s been playing mandolin and guitar since the early 1970s when she was a member of New Mexico’s popular Big River Band. She later had her own band, and now felt it was…

DANNY BURNS NORTH COUNTRY Bonfire Recordings BRC5008 Danny Burns may be a new face to many, but this Irish native has spent twenty years as a traveling folksinger on both sides of the Atlantic, honing his skills as a musician and songwriter. This is his debut project and he’s joined by some impressive talent, including…

JOHN GILMORE GRAVITY’S CURSE No Label No Number Simple. Clean. Honest. Direct. Some marketing or PR hack would try to call it authentic or blue-collar. It’s more than that. It’s the primal acoustic music of John Gilmore, a stalwart of the central Indiana bluegrass music scene. Gathering twelve of his best original vocal and instrumental…