Reviews

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…

THE TUTTLES WITH A.J. LEE ENDLESS OCEAN Back Studio Records BSR-003 Family bands are the backbone of bluegrass music. From the Monroes to the Stonemans to the Cherryholmes, young pickers have honed their skills in the bosom of family. Jack Tuttle, a much-loved California fiddler, heads up this particular outfit, anchoring his teenagers Molly, Michael,…

THE STETSON FAMILY O WINDING RIVER No Label STET003 The Stetson Family is an Australian quintet with a heavily song-focused approach. The lead vocal and songwriting chores are split fairly evenly between guitarist/resonator guitarist Nadine Budge and guitarist John Bartholomeusz (the latter writing in tandem with banjoist Colin Swan). Budge’s songs have more of an…

ALAN JACKSON THE BLUEGRASS ALBUM EMI Records B0019107-02 After 15 years of thinking about it, country superstar Alan Jackson decided to get down to business and record his dream project. “I think you could take a lot of the songs I wrote and recorded on my albums and convert it over to bluegrass, and you…