Reviews

DOYLE LAWSON & QUICKSILVER IN SESSION Mountain Home MH15732 Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s latest album, In Session, captures a celebrated veteran band at full power. It’s a masterful showcase of imaginative song choices, superlative harmonies, inspired vocal arrangements and powerhouse picking. The production, handled by Lawson with the assistance of recording engineer Josh Swift, is…

NICK HORNBUCKLE TWELVE BY TWO (PLUS OR MINUS ONE) Corvus Records CR 022            On 12×2(+/-1), Nick Hornbuckle, Washington State banjo player for John Reischman and the Jaybirds, presents a striking instrumental album showcasing his unique two-finger picking style on a thoughtful selection of mostly traditional tunes. The title refers to…

DONNA HUGHES FROM THE HEART Running Dog Records RDR-03 Obviously, Donna Hughes has been busy putting pen to paper in the four years since her last album. She is releasing two records this year. One, titled Fly, has eight originals. This one has 19 to go along with covers of the old gospel standard “I’ll…

CHRIS JONES AND THE NIGHT DRIVERS LIVE AT THE OLD FEED STORE GSM Records 103 Here’s a live album that gets it right. Just enough ambiance and crowd involvement so you get the experience. Instruments and voices are in balance so you hear everyone clearly. Introductions are kept to a minimum or on separate tracks…

LARRY STEPHENSON BAND PULL YOUR SAVIOR IN Whysper Dream Music 7 4262 9 How appropriate that Larry Stephenson celebrates his 25th year as a bandleader by releasing his fifth all-gospel album. Stephenson always seems to put an extra something into such releases, and this one is no different in that regard. The man definitely has…

SONGWRITING STRATEGIES: A 360° APPROACH—BY MARK SIMOS Berklee Press 978-0-87639-151-8. 210 pp. $22.99. (Berklee Online, 1140 Boylston St., MS-855 BM, Boston, MA 02215, www.berkleepress.com.) Now, when someone asks, “Which comes first—the melody or the words?” I can reply: Songwriting Strategies by Mark Simos comes first. That is, if what the question is really asking is, “How…