Reviews

THE CROOKED JADES SOUNDTRACK FOR BRIGHT LAND Jade Note Music CJ009 One evening, the Crooked Jades band was playing in a local San Francisco club when an audience member got up and danced. That’s not unusual for this talented young string band, except that the fan wasn’t back-stepping to a hoedown. She was New York-based…

TAARKA ADVENTURES IN VAGABONDIA No Label No Number Taarka is fronted by a husband/wife duo currently based in Colorado. David and Enion Pelta-Tilla cover the mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and vocals between them, and are joined on this wide-ranging new acoustic project by over a dozen players, including Darol Anger, Tyler Grant, and Ross Martin on…

DAVID GRISMAN AND THE DEL McCOURY BAND DEL AND DAWG: HARDCORE BLUEGRASS IN THE DAWG HOUSE Acoustic Oasis ACD-50029 What could they possibly have in common—a kid from Hackensack, N.J., now based in San Rafael, Cal., and a fellow from York, Pa., who now works out of Nashville, Tenn.? Quite a bit, as it turns…

JIM LAUDERDALE CAROLINA MOONRISE: BLUEGRASS SONGS BY ROBERT HUNTER AND JIM LAUDERDALE Sky Crunch Records 74590 2 When it comes to Robert Hunter and Jim Lauderdale, it’s clear that these two great creative minds not only think alike, but also rhyme alike. Hunter (the long-time lyricist for the Grateful Dead who has collaborated with Lauderdale…

INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS SILVER SKY: DELUXE EDITION Sci-Fidelity Records Scifi 1155 In the bluegrass world, as we all know, there are music fans and even DJs who are not fond of new, original songs being added to the bluegrass lexicon. The old standards are good enough, which is cool. Fans of early jazz and rock-and-roll are…

DELTA REIGN CALM BEFORE THE STORM Mountain Fever Records MFR 120911 Being a big tent kind of guy, it’s always fun to hear the different influences found in bluegrass music. It’s a tradition that goes all the way back to Monroe absorbing the sounds of country blues guitarist and fiddler Arnold Schultz and more. Delta…