Reviews

TOMMY EDWARDS NORTH CAROLINA: HISTORY, MYSTERY, LORE AND MORE Salisbury Street Recordings SSR1978 Edwards has put together a nice CD of songs about his home state of North Carolina. The songs, new and old, rare and familiar, for the most part are played well with the help of a long list of mostly Tarheel musicians….

TIM GARDNER TIMMETRY Coyote Ridge Audio No Number Kicking it all off with a fine reading of “Daley’s Reel,” there is a lot to like on this first solo release by this young western North Carolina fiddler. Gardner has played fiddle in the bluegrass band High Windy, and more recently for Paul’s Creek, an old-time…

JOE MULLINS & THE RADIO RAMBLERS THEY’RE PLAYING MY SONG Rebel Records CD1849 The latest release from southwest Ohio-based Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers isn’t just a vibrant, imaginative and robust (14-cut) collection. It’s also an illuminating primer on southern Ohio’s rich bluegrass heritage, which includes the late Paul “Moon” Mullins, Joe Mullins’ father,…

GRASSVILLE LONELY TONIGHT No Label No Number Grassville is a quartet based in Social Circle, Ga., consisting of banjoist Aaron Clegg, guitarist Jake Hegwood, fiddler John Rice and bassist John Nipper. Who sings what can’t be determined from the liner notes. The band is augmented by guest mandolin from Brian Stephans and guest fiddle from…

VOLUME FIVE DOWN IN A CELL Mountain Fever Records MFR100817 Although Down In A Cell is the first album by a band that debuted three years ago, each member of Volume Five has held tenure with national touring bands prior to their collective start. Mississippian Glen Harrell, who had fiddled with Marty Raybon and Full…

THE BANKESTERS Blue Circle Records BCR-031 Eleven songs. Eleven different individual writers or writing teams. Six different lead vocalists. That’s the breakdown on the Bankesters third release and first for Blue Circle Records. Some of the songs are country-pop concoctions, the best being the opener “Sure As The Sun,” a catchy, slow and bluesy love…