Reviews

EDGAR LOUDERMILK GEORGIA MAPLE Pinecastle Records PRC 1198 Among contemporary lead bluegrass singers, Edgar Loudermilk has one of the most distinctive, recognizable, and enjoyable voices in the business. His crisp baritone lead is powerful, cutting, and expressively tuneful. As with Russell Johnson and Junior Sisk, similarly strident voices, you can always find him in the…

DEER CREEK BOYS WHAT GOES UP Mountain Fever Records MFR160415 If the name Deer Creek Boys sounds familiar, it’s because they’ve been around before—sort of. The band was originally formed in 1999 when brothers Justin and Jason Tomlin (guitar and bass, respectively) joined up with Carson Ogden on mandolin and played around their hometown of…

MILL RUN BLUEGRASS BAND BY REQUEST New Side Record No Number One glance at the title of this album should tell you these are the songs most requested when the Mill Run Bluegrass Band plays out. Given that there are twenty songs, the band must spend a large part of their shows fending off or…

FOGGY MOUNTAIN TROUBADOUR: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF CURLY SECKLER BY PENNY PARSONS University of Illinois Press 9780252081590. Paperback, 304 pages, b&w photos, chapter notes, index, song index, $22.95. (University of Illinois Press, Chicago Distribution Ctr., 11030 S. Langley Ave., Chicago, IL 60628, www.press.uillinois.edu.) When it comes to books, it is the best of times…

THE BANJO: AMERICA’S AFRICAN INSTRUMENT BY LAURENT DUBOIS Harvard University Press 9780674047846. (Triliteral LLC, 100 Maple Ridge Rd., Cumberland, RI 02864, hup.harvard.edu.) So you think you know the banjo? Really? Are you aware of the African roots and Muslim influence on this instrument? Do you see it as one of the emblematic symbols of bluegrass…

Josh Williams Chasin’ The Feeling By Larry Nager It’s been more than five years, but people still ask Josh Williams about “The Bird.” In May 2011, the Josh Williams Band was playing Doyle Lawson’s festival in Denton, N.C., when a baby bird, just out of the nest, fluttered from the stage rafters to land on…