Reviews

BROCK MCGUIRE BAND GREEN GRASS BLUE GRASS ROOTS MUSIC FROM IRELAND & AMERICA Paulman Music PMCD001 Take a first-rate Irish quartet and add four of the best American bluegrass pickers and a member of Elvis Costello’s band, the Sugarcanes, and you get a mighty lively recording that may cause you to get a speeding ticket…

CUMBERLAND RIVER THE LIFE WE LIVE Rural Rhythm RUR-1083 Hard times and more hard times. A “Harlan Man” without career options is crushed by falling coal. The ghost of “Mary Flynn,” killed by her lover, walks ceaselessly. Another murdered woman begs “Remember Me,” while other locals suffer with a “Cold And Withered” heart, or in…

KENNY SMITH RETURN Gat 3 Records No Number Master musicians can do as they please. Consider playing well-known tunes. Where an average musician can include no more than one or two before attracting a jaundiced eye, masters can include as many as they want. On his latest recording Kenny Smith, a master guitarist by any…

LONESOME HIGHWAY GOT AWAY WITH MURDER No Label No Number Seven years have passed since I last reviewed Lonesome Highway. In that time, they have released a second recording, shifted from essentially being a cover band and made several personnel changes. On this their third release, only banjoist John Arnold and mandolinist Jimmy Kountz remain…

MICHELLE NIXON AND DRIVE A PLACE I BELONG Mountain Fever Records MFR 110701 Michelle Nixon returns to the bluegrass road with this album. She wasn’t completely off the road, of course having played on several Daughters of Bluegrass projects, but this is her first recording with Drive since 2005. Nick Nixon is still on guitar…

PAUL WILLIAMS & THE VICTORY TRIO SATISFIED Rebel Records REB-CD-1844 It’s worth remembering that Paul Williams is a genuinely important figure in bluegrass. This East Tennessee native was an early member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, one of the first groups to successfully perform and record the music inspired by Bill Monroe. Later, Williams was…