Reviews

NIGHTFLYER RAIL RIVER & ROAD Kang Records No Number Nightflyer is a fairly new bluegrass band based out of southwestern Ohio, an area that has produced a lot of music over the last sixty years or so. The group features Richard Propps on guitar and lead vocals, Rick Hayes on mandolin and vocals, the other…

VOLUME FIVE VOICES Mountain Fever Records MFR150120 Four times, I’ve had the welcome opportunity to review a CD from Volume Five. Setting aside their 2014 gospel recording, simply because gospel recordings tend to have a different feel and approach, their second and third releases were distinguished by alternate use of light, tradition-based bluegrass set against…

RED WINE PICKIN’ FRIENDS No Label, RW008 Thirty years ago or so, I met a banjo player in Louisville while wandering the perimeter of the audience area of the Kentucky Fried Chicken Bluegrass Festival. Nothing odd about that, save that this five-string picker, Silvio Ferretti of Red Wine, was from Genova, Italy. Like a fine…

FRANK WAKEFIELD AND RED ALLEN THE WDON RECORDINGS, 1963 Patuxent Music CD-258 In 1960, mandolinist Frank Wakefield moved from Kentucky to Maryland. A few months later, vocalist/guitarist Red Allen did the same, and the two resumed their musical association. Their group was eventually filled out by, as is heard on this recording, banjoist Pete Kuykendall…

RHONDA VINCENT AND THE RAGE ONLY ME Upper Management UM007 Is there really that much difference between traditional country and bluegrass? After all, the two genres were combined once upon a time. Regardless of where your opinion lies, Rhonda Vincent provides a serving of both sides on her latest two-disc set. For years, the sound…

HOG-EYED MAN 1 Yodel-Ay-Hee 090     One of the joys of reviewing is when you play a CD from someone you’ve never heard of before, and it’s simply wonderful. Hog-Eyed Man is the name chosen by the duo of fiddler Jason Cade with Rob McMaken who plays lap dulcimer and cross-tuned mandolin. In that configuration,…