Reviews
Karma
Volume Five is based in Mississippi and since 2008 has become quite a popular band with a unique approach to bluegrass music. The group on this new project consists of Patton Wages (banjo), Aaron Ramsey (mandolin, octave mandolin, bass), Jeff Partin (bass, resonator guitar), Jacob Burleson (guitar), and Glen Harrell (fiddle). Collectively the band has…
Railroad Town
There is a reason why some country and bluegrass songs have endured and become favorites. There’s nothing wrong with collecting a couple of handfuls of them and giving the people what they want from time to time. That’s what bluegrass veteran Junior Williams has delivered with Railroad Town, his first release for Mountain Fever records. …
Peripheral Visions
Grant Gordy is one of the leading contemporary practitioners of “Dawg Music.” “Dawg” is a style pioneered by mandolin master David Grisman back in the 1970s when he headed a quintet that featured, among others, guitarist Tony Rice and fiddle player Darrell Anger. This hybrid strain contains elements of bluegrass, gypsy jazz, bee-bop and so-called…
Two Friends
The Debutones hail from the Pacific Northwest around the Seattle, Washington area. The group is made up of Debby Nagusky (vocals), Don Share (guitar, vocals), Greg Glassman (bass, guitar, vocals), Bob Knetzger (resonator guitar, banjo, pedal steel), and Julian Smedley (violin, viola, vocals). For this new project the band members could not get together in…
Stumblin’ Out Of The Gate
Even though these two master pickers —Jack Dunlap, one of the fastest guns on mandolin (and guitar) in the greater Washington, D.C. area, and Robert Mabe, a North Carolina-born banjo master—have been collaborating on and off for years, Dunlap started this project as a solo album about two years ago. After years of showcasing on…
Darkest Hour
The music of the Gibson Brothers possesses a magic that even surpasses the sum of its remarkable core ingredients. These include near-perfect brotherly harmonies that are powerful in their emotional persuasion and understatement, and original songs infused with conversational honesty and humanity that resonate like instant classics. As such, Leigh and Eric are heirs apparent…