Reviews

JIMMY GAUDREAU AND ELLE MEARS GIVE US STRENGTH Songside Records SR-1701 Bluegrass bands (as do fans of the music, myself included) love to wallow in good old-fashioned weepers and troubled tales of all sorts. That’s what makes this album from Jimmy Gaudreau and Elle Mears a bit different. Call it a positive message album. Quite…

MAN ABOUT A HORSE No Label 191061550655 Whoa, mule, whoa. “High energy” is an understatement and Man About A Horse is a self-titled debut album that requires dancing or foot-tapping or some kind of movement. What it is is hard to describe other than to say it’s good music. That ought to be enough. The…

JOE FILI OLD HARMONY ROAD No Label No Number Fili is a fiddle repairman in New Jersey. He has gathered a group of solid musicians around him to present this program of well-known tunes peppered with originals. Carl Baron handles the banjo parts with skill, while Travis Wetzel’s mandolin and fiddle add a depth to…

SCROGGINS & ROSE GRANA No Label No Number This review is simple. If you are at all a fan of the duo albums by Mike Marshall and Darol Anger or early Dawg music or maybe the glorious guitar duet CDs of Critter Eldridge and Julian Lage, you must hear Grana by mandolin phenom Tristan Scroggins…

CEDAR HILL BY REQUEST: A 50 YEAR TRADITION, VOLUME 1 Nickeltown Records NR170515 First off, fans of Cedar Hill may be put out when they pick up their copy of By Request: A 50 Year Tradition, Volume 1. That’s because after half a century, everyone’s favorite songs are not going to be on the album….

EDDIE ADCOCK VINTAGE BANJO JAM  Patuxent Music CD-300    Of the great innovators and masters of five-string banjo, Eddie Adcock may be the most underappreciated. If for no other reason, Vintage Banjo Jam may be the most significant all-instrumental album in a long time. Listening widely, musically restless, and influenced by finger-style guitar playing, Adcock was…