Reviews

JOHN DRISKELL HOPKINS AND BALSAM RANGE DAYLIGHT No Label 001    John Driskell Hopkins met Zac Brown while hosting an open mic night in Atlanta in 2004. A year later, Hopkins became an original member of the Zac Brown Band, playing bass and being a part of the group’s now-signature and powerful harmony vocals. Since then,…

CAHALEN MORRISON & ELI WEST OUR LADY OF THE TALL TREES No Label No Number There’s something exceptionally challenging about the duo format. Two voices, two instruments—nothing to hide behind. Every second of space is as important as each note you play. From Bill & Charlie Monroe to Darol Anger & Mike Marshall, many traditions…

BRAD BENGE NASHVILLE   No Label No Number Brad Benge has spent most of his time in music behind the scenes. Hailing from Oklahoma City, he did a three-year stint playing guitar for Byron Berline before learning to work the boards. For a decade, he was chief engineer at Palladium Recording before going on the…

JOHNNY STAATS AND THE DELIVERY BOYS TIME MOVES ON No Label No Number For anyone who may have forgotten the amazing dexterity and talent Johnny Staats brings to the mandolin, let this be a reminder. It may not be apparent in the first track “Never Mind The Mule,” a bluesy medium-tempo stomp about driving his…

CHARLES BUTLER & ASSOCIATES SUDDEN SENSE OF NOW Very Entertaining Records No Number It’s hard to play banjo and blaze new trails these days. Whether you’ve been raised on Earl Scruggs or Béla Fleck, unless you can corner a market like Pat Cloud did with bebop or Mark Johnson with clawgrass, comparisons will abound when…

JUSSI SYREN AND THE GROUNDBREAKERS THE OLD HOME PLACE AIN’T THE SAME ANYMORE Snowflake Records JSGC22102    That true traditional sound, the one that probably drew the vast majority of us to bluegrass, that’s the core and the beauty of the eighth album from the Finnish group Jussi Syren and the Groundbreakers. Few bands of the…