Reviews

BREAKING GRASS WARNING SIGNS Mountain Fever MFR170317 This new project from Breaking Grass (their fourth), features the excellent songwriting of guitarist Cody Farrar. Other members in the band include Tyler White (fiddle), Zach Wooten (mandolin), Britt Sheffield (bass), and Jody Elmore (banjo). Based in Mississippi, they have gone from a local venture to becoming a…

KOREY BRODSKY CRUIZIN’ No Label No Number Korey Brodsky is a talented young flatpicking guitarist and mandolinist from New England who makes a strong debut with his first recording, Cruizin’. The title-track is one of four original compositions included here, and can best be described as a driving fiddle tune. “Dragonfly” and “Catching Grapes” are…

HOG-EYED MAN 3 Yodel-Ay-Hee 104    Jason Cade won first place in fiddle at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, W.Va., in 2016, and the two tunes he played in the finals are on this CD, “Buck Hoard” from Alva Green and “Old Hen She Cackled” from John Salyer. While those two powerful tunes…

JEFF BROWN & STILL LONESOME A DISTANT HORIZON Union House Records UHR—0002 Jeff Brown & Still Lonesome come from Cedar Bluff, Va., and bring with them a sound mixing traditional, straight-ahead bluegrass with contemporary flourishes. Some songs are cast in the traditional mode. Some are more contemporary. Most blend the two. Jeff Brown is the…

CORRINA ROSE LOGSTON BLUEGRASS FIDDLER Patuxent Music CD-278 I was listening recently to some of my old vinyl recordings, including a cluster of albums by the great fiddlers Kenny Baker and Byron Berline. They were distinguished by a consistently high level of sweet and proficient fiddling, a wide-ranging assortment of interesting tunes, and support from…

EXERCISES FOR THREE-FINGER BANJO BY JACK HATFIELD Mel Bay MB99783. (Mel Bay, #4 Industrial Dr., Pacific, MO 63069, www.melbay.com.)   This is a book for the serious banjo player. It’s full of techniques for both hands on the banjo and good advice to everyone wanting to be a better three-finger banjo player. Subtitled Drills In…