Reviews
Bluegrass At The Crossroads
During the pandemic, when most bands and artists were off the road, the folks at Mountain Home Music put the downtime to good use. Drawing on solo artists and various band members from their talent roster—The Lonesome River Band, The Traveling McCourys, The Grascals, The Infamous Stringdusters, Sideline, Zoe & Cloyd, among others—producer Jon Weisberger…
The Jacob Jolliff Band
Reviewed by Dale and Darcy Cahill On August 5th Adhyaropa Records released Jacob Jolliff’s newest album entitled the Jacob Jolliff Band. Jolliff hit the bullseye with this album. Possibly most famous for playing a little bit left of center with his progressive and complex mandolin instrumentals, with this album Jolliff returns to his bluegrass roots. …
Trampled by Turtles
Seemingly every review and article about Minnesota’s Trampled by Turtles attempts to explain how they bridge the divide between rock and roots, crafting music laden with their punk sensibilities but delivered with a bluegrass lean. All of that is true, but limits who Trampled by Turtles really is and what they do as a band…
Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five-String Banjo
Soft-cover. 147 pages. Includes banjo tablature. Illustrations by Giselle Harrington The Bill Monroe band of Blue Grass Boys that included Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (1946-1947) has often been called the “greatest bluegrass group of all time.” But, as Tony Trischka says in his intro to Max Wareham’s new book, Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero…
Parabolic Tension Strings
When you build the signature guitar of one of bluegrass music’s greatest ever players, Tony Rice, it’s no surprise that the Santa Cruz Guitar Company puts equal attention into the design, quality and production of their in-house guitar string brand as they did in Rice’s personal instrument. Santa Cruz Parabolic Tension Strings incorporate…
One More Time Before You Go: A Tribute to Tony Rice
Dan Tyminski’s tribute CD to guitar master Tony Rice, unlike another recent Rice “tribute” CD that featured loud drums, electric guitar and other extraneous non-bluegrass influences, relishes the soulful vocals, brilliant guitar flatpicking, and sense of taste Rice brought to every project. Here, Tyminski opens with the classic, “Church Street Blues,” showcasing Dan…