Reviews

LOAFERS’ GLORY Arhoolie 542 If the name of this band and their album suggests to you a bunch of musicians “laid back and pickin’” (as Lester Flatt used to say), you wouldn’t be far wrong. And Flatt’s of long ago observation would apply here, too. These talented and experienced Southern California-based musicians with years of…

LARRY STEPHENSON WHAT REALLY MATTERS Compass Records 745812 Larry Stephenson’s latest is one of those recordings that refreshes you like a breezy cool front on the heels of a torturous heat wave. Making it go are Stephenson’s distinctive tenor lead, which continues to mellow gracefully, and his thirty-plus years in the business, which has given…

ETHAN HUGHES SEARCHING FOR A HOME Patuxent Music PXCD-226 Combing a keen sense of musicality and musicianship on resonator guitar with a strong lead vocal, young Ethan Hughes has created a debut CD that will probably create some interest and excitement among fans of modern bluegrass. Eschewing the alt-grass or jamgrass-style that has propelled other…

THE COLORADAS Hometown Caravan HTC 036 The first thing I notice that’s refreshing about Roy Davis and Bernie Nye, the Maine-based musicians that make up The Coloradas (a band from the John Hartford-to-Punch Brothers branch of bluegrass) is their lack of pretense. In their publicity copy, which begins with “Dear esteemed member of the media…

DETOUR A BETTER PLACE Bluegrass Ahead 1201 Three years after their second CD, Detour delivers an album on which the same high level of musicianship and creativity is maintained, but there have been changes to the personnel and the band’s sound. Mandolinist Jeff Rose remains the primary songwriter, contributing eight of the recording’s fourteen tracks….

VARIOUS ARTISTS MUSICIANS AGAINST CHILDHOOD CANCER: LIFE GOES ON Rural Rhythm RUR 1094 A few years ago, I wrote an article about the Musicians Against Childhood Cancer (MACC) benefit concert held every summer in Columbus, Ohio. At the heart of the event is Darrel Adkins, a long-time bluegrass promoter whose daughter Mandy died of cancer…