Reviews

The “Pickin’ On” series on CMH Records may have started as a whim or a novelty, but after three decades and dozens of releases, it’s become a cottage industry.  By now, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Eagles have all been “picked on,” along with seemingly less likely candidates like The Doors, Green Day, The…

Ohio musician Joe Mullins is one of bluegrass music’s stalwarts. He is an excellent banjo player whose career also included being a member of such bands as The Traditional Grass and Longview. He is also the owner of a radio station and is a broadcaster.   Since forming The Radio Ramblers in 2006, Mullins and…

The members of Carolina Bluegrass Style are based in the Columbia, South Carolina area, but spend most of their performing time in the venues around the area of Ashville, making them true to their Carolina name. The band consists of founding member Tommy Thomas (bass), along with Don Ashley (fiddle, vocals), Tyler Chasteen (guitar, vocals),…

The band is the brain-child of Portland, Oregon native Kenny Feinstein, who spent the past 15 years putting this group together. His original band was the Water Tower Bucket Boys which then became the Water Tower String band. He moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and reformed into the current Water Tower, whose members are…

Don Rigsby has had a distinguished, if rather nomadic career over the four decades covered by this retrospective. He’s released a half dozen or so solo albums and been in and out of as many bands – J.D. Crowe, the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Lonesome River Band, Rock County, and Longview among them. This rock-solid song…

With their ten-gallon hats, rhinestone suits and boots, and high-energy, Jimmy Martin-style sass, there’s little understated about the Kody Norris Show.  The band’s new album, and third for Rebel Records, really captures the band’s high-energy, good-timey live vibe, which is shot through with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. This is exemplified by a delightful, rapid-fire cover…