Reviews

BUNCOMBE TURNPIKE FOREVER IT WILL BE No Label No Number What is most attractive about the latest recording from Buncombe Turnpike are the four story songs drawn from real characters and events in and around the group’s homebase of Buncombe County, North Carolina. Those four come from bassist Tom Godleski. This is not new territory…

RICKY SKAGGS AND BRUCE HORNSBY CLUCK OL’ HEN (LIVE) Skaggs Family Records 6989050042 The only thing that could possibly top the Skaggs and Hornsby studio collaboration six years ago is this live collection of tunes, mostly taken from their tour at that time. While musicians attempt to recreate the live feel behind the studio microphone,…

SHANNON & HEATHER SLAUGHTER & COUNTY CLARE ONE MORE ROAD Elite Circuit Music 002 Shannon & Heather Slaughter & County Clare’s One More Road is an exciting new release featuring the songwriting of Shannon Slaughter and wife Heather’s wonderful and soulful vocals. Shannon is a songwriter/guitarist whose works have been recorded by the Lonesome River…

NEW KENTUCKY COLONELS LIVE IN HOLLAND 1973 Roland White Music RW0001 Clarence White’s tragic death at the hands of a drunk driver forty years ago did not just tear apart his lifelong musical connection with his brothers Roland and Eric and their landmark bluegrass band, the Kentucky Colonels. Like the premature deaths of Django Reinhardt,…

MICKEY GALYEAN & CULLEN’S BRIDGE ROLLIN’ WITH TRADITION  Galyean Family Records 12013 Mickey Galyean & Cullen’s Bridge’s Rollin’ With Tradition can only be recommended to those who enjoy solid picking, no-nonsense arrangements of strong songs new and old, and good, unpretentious singing. This ensemble with a perfect blend of passion for classic bluegrass and experience…

BYRON BERLINE: A FIDDLER’S DIARY—BY BYRON BERLINE WITH JANE FROST—New Forums Press 9781581072457. Paperback, 410 pp., $25.95. (New Forums Press, Inc., 1018 S. Lewis St., Stillwater, OK 74074, www.newforums.com.) Readers of this magazine should be well familiar with Byron Berline’s music, but many of us have not had the privilege and pleasure of knowing him…