Reviews

FELLER & HILL HERE COME FELLER & HILL…AGAIN! Blue Circle Records BCR-040    When something works, stay with it. The debut from Feller & Hill, an excellent mix of classic country, bluegrass, gospel, and Buck Owens and brother-duet vocalizing, did just that and earned them some deserved recognition. For their second release, they stick largely…

GILLES RÉZARD BROCELIANDE Vocation Records VOC-4726    Rézard is a French banjo player and quite accomplished at that. Most of the musicians here are French with two outstanding exceptions. Sam Bush and Stuart Duncan both shine on the cuts “Brocéliande” and “Magentic Breakdown.” Both adeptly handle the wide range of styles from bluegrass to pieces…

DICK WEISSMAN NEAR AND FAR Heron Bay Records HB071    Dick Weissman started his music career when he formed The Journeymen with John Phillips and Scott McKenzie, to whom this CD is dedicated. Composing all the music for this project, Weissman also plays banjo, 12-string and electric guitars, and piano, to name a few of…

THE OSBORNE BROTHERS NASHVILLE Pinecastle Records PRC 1184    This CD is the fourth and final release in a series documenting the Osborne Brothers’ career from their birthplace in Hyden, Ky., to Dayton, Knoxville, Detroit, Wheeling, and finally Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry. The first seven of the eight cuts are from a partially…

BALSAM RANGE FIVE Mountain Home MH15322    The first time through on Balsam Range’s Five, my thought was that the recording may fall way short of Papertown. The second time through, the vocal and instrumental talents and the Balsam Range sound, all among the best in the business, had begun to work their magic, and…

DOBRO ROOTS: A PHOTO TOUR OF PREWAR WOOD BODY DOBROS BY STEVE TOTH Centerstream Publishing 9781574243017. Foreword by Jerry Douglas, 216 pp., CD included, $55. (Centerstream Publishing, P.O. Box 17878, Anaheim Hills, CA 92817, www.centerstream-usa.com.)    I don’t usually quote from the foreword of a book I’m reviewing, but in this case, Jerry Douglas says…