Reviews

THE BAYLEY HAZEN BOYS ANOTHER BLUE RIBBON No Label No Number The “boys” are a trio of seasoned pickers from Vermont and former members the band Gopher Broke Bluegrass. With Steve Wright on guitar, banjo, and vocals, Gary Darling on mandolin and vocals, and Chris Cruger on bass and vocals, they are joined at times…

ALICE GERRARD BITTERSWEET Spruce and Maple Music SMM 1008 Starting off a CD with an a cappella number is a gutsy move. But Alice Gerrard and producer Laurie Lewis are gutsy musicians. Bittersweet, Alice’s first solo CD in ten years, finds the two friends combining their considerable talents to showcase thirteen strong originals by Alice….

THE MURPHY METHOD: BANJO BACKUP FOR FIDDLE TUNES—TAUGHT BY CASEY HENRY AND MURPHY HENRY WITH MEGAN LYNCH ON FIDDLE—Murphy Method MB30372DVD. 99 mins., $29.99. (Murphy Method, P.O. Box 2498, Winchester, VA 22604, www.murphymethod.com.) Perhaps the biggest leap a beginning banjo player can take is to go from playing by herself to playing with others. It’s…

OLD BUCK Tin Halo Music THMCD-1013    Old Buck features Riley Baugus on banjo and guitar, Emily Schaad on fiddle, Debra Clifford on guitar and mandolin, and Sabra Guzman on bass. All four sing and play with both power and subtlety, and all four are very well-known names in old-time music and beyond. This CD opens…

NU-BLU TEN Rural Rhythm RUR 1114 Carolyn Routh, the centerpiece of the band that she and her husband Daniel (vocals and guitar) formed, is a stupendous singer who ranks among the likes of Rhonda Vincent and Claire Lynch. Under her powers, ballads like “Without A Kiss” (co-written by Scott Filson, Michael Mahler, and Bill Filson)…

DARIN AND BROOKE ALDRIDGE FLYING Organic Records OR14822 When you hear the opener “Maybe Just A Little,” you know right away that bluegrass, in the traditional sense, is probably taking a back seat on the recording as a whole. The first notes, played by Darin Aldridge on mandolin, lull you briefly into thinking otherwise, but…