Reviews

Singer/songwriter Rick Lang follows up his IBMA award-winning CD, Gonna Sing, Gonna Shout with another all-star ensemble of musicians on Blue Collar Gospel (Billy Blue Records). The magical vocal pairings for the 11-cut project including Becky Buller and Nathan Woodard (“Rise Above It All”), Dave Adkins with Alecia Nugent and Jerry Salley (“Old Rugged Me”), Barry Abernathy featuring John…

If you’re a bluegrass purist looking for an album that sounds like it just wandered from the Appalachian foothills, look no further. Ancient Songs et al is heavily fortified with evangelical hymns, Woody Guthrie, Townes Van Zandt, AP Carter, and of course, Bill Monroe. Dry Branch Fire Squad seeks to preserve the essence of these…

At the end of May, Jacob Jolliff released his latest album, Instrumentals, Vol. 2: Mandolin Mysteries on Adhyaropa Records. If you are familiar with Jolliff, you have probably listened to Instrumentals, Vol. 1, released in 2018 when Jolliff was a youthful 27 years old. Now in his mid-thirties, this new album of originals reflects Jolliff’s…

I’ve had the immense pleasure of seeing Beppe Gambetta perform live at a cozy venue in Harrisburg, Missouri. He is a master of his craft; a one man orchestra. His playing is strongly influenced by the great flatpickers of our time, but also has elements of classical and contemporary music of the world. I’ve also…

Even early in his life, John Cowan’s vocal talents surprised and impressed those who heard him. As Cowan, now 70, recalls in his memoir Hold To A Dream, it was the cute sister of one of his friends telling him—“You sing really good!”—that scotched his interest in playing football and motivated him to give his…

The “Pickin’ On” series has been running for nearly three decades now, cranking out over forty records. They have successfully bridged the gap between traditional bluegrass and popular music of the 20th and 21st century. The series first began to captivate bluegrass audiences with the Pickin’ on the Grateful Dead album in 1997 and went…