Reviews

BARWICK & SIEGFRIED THE TRESTLE FGM Records FGM-1501    What makes the duo format so musically appealing is the same thing that makes it so daunting. There is absolutely no place to hide. Every note played or sung, and each that’s left un-played, must find its perfect place in order to achieve that sublime blend…

THE BLUEGRASS BROTHERS GENERATIONS Mountain Fever Records MFR 140715 The Bluegrass Brothers have to be recognized as one of the premier proponents of the progressive/traditional style of bluegrass on the stage today—traditional in overall sound, but progressive in finding new material and exciting and interesting ways to deliver it. Spearheaded by Victor and Robert Dowdy…

THE MUSIC OF THE STANLEY BROTHERS—BY GARY B. REID—University of Illinois Press 9780252080333. Foreword by Neil V. Rosenberg, 312 pp., 51 photos, discography, $30. (Univ. Of Ill. Press, Chicago Distribution Center, 11030 S. Langley Ave., Chicago, IL 60628, www.press.uillinois.edu.) Readers of this magazine should need no introduction to Gary Reid, but as there are always…

UNCLE DAVE MACON: A PHOTO TRIBUTE—BY MICHAEL D. DOUBLER—Macon Doubler Fellowship 9780692210246.  Softback, 32 pp., $14. (County Sales, P.O. Box 191, Dept. 3, Floyd, VA 24091, www.countysales.com.) Uncle Dave Macon (1870-1952) is the patron saint of the five-string banjo and the man who brought it from nineteenth century minstrelsy to the core of country music…

THE BLUEGRASS HALL OF FAME: INDUCTEE BIOGRAPHIES 1991-2014—BY FRED BARTENSTEIN, GARY REID & OTHERS—Holland Brown Books 9780989754415. Hardbound, with photos, 242 pp., $39.95. (IBMM, 207 E. Second St., Owensboro, KY 42303, www.bluegrassmuseum.org.) It’s hard to imagine, but there will come a time when the name Bill Monroe will sound as remote as Stephen Foster does…

BRIAN GODCHAUX & SANDY ROTHMAN THE RED FIDDLE & SILVER BANJO: FIDDLE AND BANJO, THE LONG FORM Tone Bar Records TBR-980    From time to time, we’re treated to a recording of banjo/fiddle duets. For folks who play these instruments, these recordings hold a special interest. The interplay of this format goes all the way…