Reviews

THE BUCKING MULES SMOKE BEHIND THE CLOUDS Free Dirt Records Dirt-CD 0082 The Bucking Mules new offering digs deep into the Tennessee roots of fiddler Joseph Decosimo with a few forays into neighboring states. The first and title-cut is a rollicking fine time of a tune with rock-solid rhythm and words from the Georgia Organ…

BIG SADIE KEEP ME WAITING Spindle Tree Records STR-201 Big Sadie is a bluegrass and country-influenced folk/Americana quartet from the Chicago area fronted by vocalist/bassist Elise Bergman and vocalist/guitarist Collin Moore. Also in the group are banjoist Andy Malloy and fiddler Matt Brown. This is their debut for Spindle Tree Records, but also their first…

Peter V. Kuykendall (aka Pete Roberts) 79 of Warrenton, VA passed away on August 24, 2017.  He was born on January 15, 1938, in Washington, DC, and was a resident of Northern Virginia area all of his life except for a short period as a child when he lived in Nashville, IN. He graduated in…

EARL SCRUGGS: BANJO ICON—GORDON CASTELNERO AND DAVID L. RUSSELL Rowman & Littlefield 9781442268654. Hardback, 258 pp., Forward by Bela Fleck, $40. This is an insightful tribute to the man who put the banjo in bluegrass. Taken from many oral histories or first-hand accounts of folks who knew Scruggs, we get a rather detailed look into…

MAMA CORN LIVE AND LEARN No Label No Number Mama Corn, a fun and funky bluegrass group from central Pennsylvania, has scaled down from a quintet to a quartet since their previous recording Hold That Crooked Line. On Live And Learn, they sound like they’ve done exactly that, refining their sound and repertoire and managing…

ANDREW VOGTS SASQUATCH WITH AN ALIEN ON ITS HEAD Patuxent Music CD-298 Here is another talented young picker making his recording debut on Tom Mindte’s Patuxent Music. His name is Andrew Vogts. He’s 15, plays fiddle, and is already something of a music veteran, having won competitions at Galax and Clifftop and also performed with…