Reviews

ROSIN IN THE AIRE A COLD FROSTY MORNING Rita Records 0101 This enjoyable debut album by Rosin In The Aire reveals a highly versatile band. Based in the Puget Sound region of Washington State, the ensemble’s love of music and its cumulative years of experience shine through. Leanne Cardinale (bass, hammered dulcimer), Tim Cardinale (guitar),…

A DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE NO MORE BLUES TTB Records No Number The problem with being a “best kept secret” is, well, remaining a secret. In a genre of music with so much talent, the step from regional favorite to national band is enormous. For Monroe, N.C.’s A Deeper Shade of Blue, they are hoping…

THE KICKIN’ GRASS BAND WALK WITH ME Superfan Records SFR005 Kickin’ Grass Band is a strongly traditional bluegrass band, singing songs of death and loss, redemption and revival. Singer and guitarist Linda Dawson authored about half the songs here, and she writes in a powerfully traditional style that matches her achingly sincere vocal style very…

DANNY PAISLEY AND THE SOUTHERN GRASS ROAD INTO TOWN Patuxent Music PX-CD-238 Each of the first three (Bob or Danny) Paisley and the Southern Grass recordings I’ve reviewed required a mention of the ultra-intensity of the music, both vocally and instrumentally. It didn’t matter if the song was fast or slow. The relentless attack that…

PETE GOBLE & ANDY BALL BACK TO JUBILEE ROAD Moon Ridge Records No Number If the street map of bluegrass had a Tin Pan Alley, it’s safe to assume you’d find Pete Goble’s mailbox there. The composer of “Big Spike Hammer,” “Tennessee 1949,” “Colleen Malone,” and countless others has just released this wide-ranging collection of…

BO ISAAC AND THE ROUNDERS DOLLAR Out Of The Woods, No Number Plain and simple, Bo Isaac can sing. He can throw his shoulders back and let the emotion and the declaiming fly, or he can quiet it down to a gentle, pensive storyteller level, in either case laying out spot-on phrasing and dynamics. His…