Reviews

ANN PORCELLA GATHERING STONES No Label No Number Ann Porcella has gathered a group of talented friends to help her on this solo release of 14 songs. She has Paul Brown on banjo, Mark Clifton on resonator and Weissenborn guitar, Ira Gitlin on guitar, Marcy Marxer on percussion, Al Murphy on fiddle and mandolin, Bill…

RICKY SKAGGS COUNTRY HITS BLUEGRASS STYLE Skaggs Family Records 698901012 I suppose if there’s a down side to having a hit song, it’s that you’re stuck with it for the rest of your professional life. No matter if you played it 12,000 times; your next audience isn’t going to be happy until you’ve played it…

NU-BLU THE BLU-DISC Pinecastle Records PRC 1176 Nu-Blu is a fine young band from North Carolina which features a very tight, polished sound, impressive instrumental work, and excellent vocals led by Carolyn Routh. On this, their second release (and the first for the newly active Pinecastle label) they present 12 well-chosen and engaging cuts that…

DALE ANN BRADLEY SOMEWHERE SOUTH OF CRAZY Compass Records 7 4564 2 Dale Ann Bradley has been on a roll of late. She has seen the ups and downs of music business virtually at the same time in recent years. Yet her string of IBMA awards are well-deserved, as anyone who has seen her live…

DONNA ULISSE AN EASY CLIMB Hadley Music Group HMG 1007 There have been many examples of mainstream country music missing the boat on some very good vocalists over the years. Some of those singers, in turn, have thankfully landed in the bluegrass genre. What is Nashville Pop’s loss has been bluegrass music’s gain in many…

VARIOUS ARTISTS MOODY BLUEGRASS: TWO…MUCH LOVE Bunny Rae Records BRRMBG2 There have been a lot of albums released in recent years with a “bluegrass style” tag on them, which usually means non-bluegrass music played with bluegrass instruments. Many are full of great music, but the bluegrass sound never really kicks in. However, the new album,…