Reviews

FROG TROUBLE—BY SANDRA BOYNTON Workman Publishing 9780761171768. Hardback, 65 pp., includes 12-song CD, $16.95. (Workman Publishing, 225 Varick St., New York, NY 10014, www.workman.com.) As the mother of a two-year-old I was very familiar with Sandra Boynton before this CD and book landed on my desk to review. She writes and illustrates kids’ books (Barnyard…

VARIOUS ARTISTS DAUGHTERS OF BLUEGRASS: PICKIN’ LIKE A GIRL Blue Circle Records BCR-036    How wonderful it is to be living in an era when Dixie Hall can spearhead a new three-CD project featuring the Daughters Of Bluegrass and proudly title it Pickin’ Like A Girl. Times have changed! This remarkable set of 52 songs by…

NOAM PIKELNY PLAYS KENNY BAKER PLAYS BILL MONROE Compass Records 4616 With a lineup led by Noam Pikelny on banjo with Mike Bub on bass, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Ronnie McCoury on mandolin and Bryan Sutton on guitar, there’s no reason to wonder about the musical quality of this third recording by Pikelny for Compass….

THE GIBSON BROTHERS THEY CALLED IT MUSIC Compass Records 745992 Eric and Leigh Gibson are at their best when writing and harmonizing about people in a state of quiet desperation and in search of some sort of emotional or spiritual reprieve. This is to say they shine brightest when writing and singing about people like…

HILLBENDERS CAN YOU HEAR ME? Compass Records 7 4585 2 Newgrass Revival left a significant mark behind them in their two decades of existence, influencing numerous groups. Their combination of complex arrangements, impassioned vocals, instrumental virtuosity, and pop sensibility in a bluegrass context set a high standard for progressive acoustic bands to follow. The Hillbenders,…

GRITS & SOUL FLOOD WATERS No Label No Number Up from Mississippi, now working out of Asheville, N.C., Grits & Soul is the duo of Anne Kline and John Looney. Though she plays guitar, Kline here appears only as a singer, although to say “only” in any context about her singing is a mistake. She…