Reviews

BREAKING GRASS No Label No Number Bluegrass music songwriting has grown and expanded thematically in recent years, with bands like the Infamous Stringdusters and Cadillac Sky bringing a cinematic approach to their original material that tells sweeping stories filled with a novelist’s eye for detail and character. Coupled with a newfound sense of rhythmic and…

CAHALEN MORRISON & ELI WEST THE HOLY COMING OF THE STORM Hearth Music No Number Add a layer of gritty LP or 78 rpm surface noise to these tracks and voilà, Cahalen Morrison’s and Eli West’s The Holy Coming Of The Storm might pass as a newly rediscovered old-time duo from the early years of…

CHERYL J. WATSON WATERTOWN No Label No Number Labeling Florida singer-songwriter Cheryl Watson’s debut a bluegrass release is open to debate. Given the ever-expanding state of contemporary bluegrass, you could make an argument for including it, and certainly four tracks do feature the banjo. That said, her 13-song CD (12 originals) is too diverse to…

CROWE ON THE BANJO: THE MUSIC LIFE OF J.D. CROWE BY MARTY GODBEY University of Illinois Press 978-00252-07825-5 The publication of this book by the respected University of Illinois Press as part of their Music In American Life series is a major event for three reasons: 1.) It’s a captivating and comprehensive biography of a…

DARIN & BROOKE ALDRIDGE SO MUCH IN BETWEEN Mountain Home Music MH13612 Anyone who might have heard cuts from the debut, self-titled album from Darin and Brooke Aldridge and wondered, “Who are they?” needs to go ahead and get acquainted with the self-styled “Sweethearts Of Bluegrass.” You’re going to be hearing their names a lot….

DEHLIA LOW RAVENS AND CROWS Rebel Records REB-CD-1842 Dehlia Low, favorites of the Asheville area roots music scene since their formation in 2007, are anything but a traditional bluegrass band. They don’t even include the banjo. Yet Dehlia Low combines mountain-inflected vocals and bluegrass harmonies with more modern picking style into music that successfully crosses…