Reviews

NOTORIOUS THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS Black Socks Press CD 28 Notorious is an interesting and eclectic folk ensemble built around the duo of fiddler/singer Eden MacAdam-Somer and guitarist/banjoist Larry Unger. Their full-sized band adds mandolinist Sam Bartlett and Mark Hellenberg on percussion and banjo uke. They cover an interesting range of tunes and songs from…

NORMAN BLAKE GREEN LIGHT ON THE SOUTHERN Plectrafone Records 824761-42812-1 When you are as talented as Norman Blake, nothing is needed in the studio but a guitar and microphone. Blake, who retired from the road with his wife Nancy three years ago, recorded some of the old-fashioned Southern string music that he plays around home….

KIRK SUTPHIN & RILEY BAUGUS LONG-TIME PIEDMONT PALS Old Blue Records OB CD-705 You can’t be more long-time friends than growing up in the same town and playing music together from the time you were young. Riley and Kirk are part of the living aural tradition, the true vine of old-time music. They learned from…

JOE MULLINS AND THE RADIO RAMBLERS HYMNS FROM THE HILLS Rebel Records Reb-CD 1839 Joe Mullins’ new gospel recording is evenly split between two approaches. On one side are seven songs recorded solely by Mullins and his band, the Radio Ramblers. Several of those are new songs, including the rousing “He Loves Me” by band…

GLENN GIBSON WHEN TIMES ARE HARD Glenn Gibson is a resonator guitarist who has put in side man and studio time with Charlie Sizemore, Marty Raybon, Karl Shiflett, and Dale Ann Bradley. With this recording, he steps out from that role and assumes that of songwriter and lead vocalist. All of the songs here are…

GARY RULEY AND MULE TRAIN THE SOUTHERN INN AND OUT LIVE Gary Ruley and Mule Train is a large, somewhat free-floating ensemble of talented musicians from in and around Rockbridge County, Virginia. Some eleven names are listed in their press notes, and five of them, plus two guests (fiddlers Nate Leath and Shannon Wheeler) appear…