Reviews

Established over forty years ago, The Lonesome River Band is known for its consistent sound and song presentation. The band has gone through many member changes over the years, but both Sammy Shelor (banjo) and Mike Hargrove (fiddle) have been there for most of those years. Current member Jesse Smathers (vocal, guitar, mandolin) joined when…

This intriguing, East-meets-West collaboration started at the Strathmore Music Center, near Washington, D.C., where Chao Tian, a visual artist and master of the Chinese hammered dulcimer, was artist in residence. Tian’s music caught the attention of Maryland-based folk veterans Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, and the result is this imaginative collaboration, which they’ve since taken…

Virginia-based bluegrass trio Shelton & Williams are keenly aware of the power of time. They titled their 2022 album project So Much Time, So Much Love from a line in the Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s iconic “Wasted on the Way” on that album. They chose the title for their second album A Time for Every…

Members of the Southwest Bluegrass All-Stars are: banjo master Bill Evans, a recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize; New Mexico-based  bass player Anne Luna; Austin songwriter Elliott Rogers, who’s worked with the likes of Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith and the Alan Munde Gazette; and Steve Smith, a New Mexico-based mandolinist extraordinaire, who has…

Cast Iron was formed in 2019 and calls the Ashville, North Carolina area home. The members include Nick Dauphinais (mandolin), Andrew Blythe (banjo), Rob Sine (guitar), and Celia Millington-Wyckoff (bass), and for this project they have included fiddler James Schlender.  The band’s pedigrees include stints with Mountain Faith, Larry Stephenson Band, Blue Wheel Drive, Whetstone…

Based in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Buck McCumbers heads a band called “Buck and Company,” but for this release he gathered together some different players and renamed the band “The Hillbillies.” Included in the studio are McCumbers (mandolin, vocals), Eric Chichester (guitar, vocals), Dodd Walker (bass, vocals), Rick Ellis (banjo, guitar), Hunter Lemon (fiddle), and brother…