Reviews

JOHN HARTFORD, TONY RICE & VASSAR CLEMENTS HARTFORD, RICE, CLEMENTS Small Dog Barking No Number It’s commonplace for recordings to appear posthumously. Some artists left hours of recorded music behind. These gentleman worked and played together on and off for decades. They ran in the same circles, they blew off steam playing for the fun…

MIKE SEEGER AND PEGGY SEEGER FLY DOWN LITTLE BIRD Appleseed Recordings APR CD 1125 Recorded mostly in 2008, a year before Mike Seeger’s death, this album documents what must have been a wonderful few days for the brother and sister, recording in Mike’s home-studio, songs that they knew from childhood. Mike and Peggy Seeger grew…

SCOTT HOLSTEIN COLD COAL TOWN Coal Records, No Number This is an outstanding recording in every way. With a rich baritone voice reminiscent of country singer Josh Turner and a talent for writing straight-to-the-gut lyrics wrapped up in strong melodies, Scott Holstein has hit one out of the park with Cold Coal Town. These great…

TERRY BAUCOM IN A GROOVE John Boy & Billy/Dualtone 1006 Terry Baucom has been playing bluegrass for a long time. He was a fiddler with the late Charlie Moore about thirty-plus years ago. He played banjo with Ricky Skaggs in Boone Creek and then proceeded to play in a long list of bands throughout the…

THE BROMBIES FROM THE PINEY HILLS (OF HOLLYWOOD) Adina 1002 From the piney hills of Hollywood, Cal., come the Brombies, the name being a variant of the term for Australian wild horses (“brumbies”). The Brombies are made up of the husband and wife team of George and Jo Ellen Doering, Bill Bryson, and Patrick Sauber….

THE BYRON BERLINE BAND RUNAWAY Doublestop Music No Number Byron Berline built a good bit of his reputation playing in and among the California bluegrass and country rock bands of the ’60s and ’70s. Those bands had an affinity for bright, pop-influenced melodies and backing. They also didn’t shy away from covering rock tunes, nor…