Reviews

Maryland’s Roger Cline has put together a nice collection of mostly original material on this new project of stories about bravery, courage, tenacity and about those who have it. He is joined here by a host of musicians including: Scott Freeman (mandolin), Debbie Durant & Tom Hensler (bass), Gary Hultman (resonator guitar), John Scott Walker…

Lloyd Loar stands, like Mario Maccaferri and Gibson’s Ted McCarty and Leo Fender, as one of the foundational stringed instrument designers in recent history. His acoustic engineering advancements in Gibson’s mandolin family instruments in the 1920s created (inadvertently) the ultimate bluegrass mandolin design—the legendary F-5 played by everyone from Bill Monroe to Wyatt Ellis.   …

New Mexico’s Higher Ground Bluegrass is celebrating 25 years of music with this ninth project. The band was established in 1998 by Duke Weddington, banjo player and primary songwriter, and in the past the band has opened for such artists as Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, Tim O’Brien, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Peter Rowan, and…

This Owensboro, Kentucky-based band’s second album is one of those projects where all the pieces fall almost magically together. This owes to Kentucky Shine’s fine singing, playing and songwriting as well as their sure-handed grasp of the music’s thematic and instrumental traditions. Night Watch features two covers. One is a revival of the Osborne Brothers’…

Acoustic Disc Downloads Being a long-time lover of great guitar playing, I’ve often tried to seek out the best of the best. I thought I’d heard all there was until I discovered the world of the flatpicking virtuosos. Two of the legends, Tony and Wyatt Rice have come together in this incomparable work of Americana,…

The band’s name is taken from the town of Roxboro, North Carolina where the band is based. Formed by mandolinist Ricky Stroud, the group includes Cliff Waddell (guitar), Bailey Moore (bass), David Nance (resonator guitar), and Ronald Smith (banjo). Both Stroud and Waddell are veterans of the Hagar’s Mountain boys, while Smith played a long…