Reviews

TROUT STEAK REVIVAL BRIGHTER EVERY DAY No Label No Number Brighter Every Day is the second album from Trout Steak Revival, a quintet from Colorado. Produced by Chris Pandolfi (Infamous Stringdusters), the recording is a clean and polished collection of ten songs and one instrumental (all originals). They seem to be striving for a sound…

STEEP RAVINE THE PEDESTRIAN No Label 8921142532 This trio’s The Pedestrian is a quick follow-up to their 2014 debut Trampin’ On. Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, Steep Ravine brings another fresh crop of originals to the table with their collective influences of folk, jazz, pop, and funk, along with bluegrass. Jan Purat brings…

THE DAUPHINAIS BROTHERS EMPTY TEARDROPS No Label No Number    This is an instantly likeable album. There are no real holes in it; no point at which to reach for the skip button. Hearing this music immediately reminded me of the first time I heard the Gibson Brothers in the late 1990s. They too drew on…

THE STEELDRIVERS THE MUSCLE SHOALS RECORDINGS Rounder Records 11661-9180-2 The title of The SteelDrivers’ latest collection has real significance. This popular Nashville-based group—whose sound is as shiny and intense as its name implies—traveled to the legendary recording mecca of Muscle Shoals, Ala., (specifically to the Nutt House Studio in nearby Sheffield) to produce their fourth…

THE LONESOME TRIO Sugar Hill Records SUG-CD-4110 A love of whiskey and bluegrass music drew together three students attending Ohio’s Oberlin College twenty-two years ago. Ed Helms (guitar and banjo), Ian Riggs (bass), and Jacob Tilove (mandolin), along with a few other musician buds played informal gigs on back porches, front yards, and basement keg…

RUSSELL MOORE & IIIrd TYME OUT IT’S ABOUT TYME Break A String BAS 2015 IIIrd Tyme Out’s latest album kicks off in high gear with a jaunty romantic lament, “I’m Leaving You And Fort Worth Too” (penned by bandleader Russell Moore), and from there it never lets up. Every one of these 14 songs is…