Reviews

Rock Hearts hail from Rhode Island and in the eight years since getting together in 2013 have become one of New England’s popular bands. Rock Hearts members are Alex MacLeod (guitar), Joe Deetz (banjo), Billy Thibodeau (mandolin), Danny Musher (fiddle), and Rick Brodsky (bass). Collectively they are all veterans of the music, having performed with…

If you loved the New Acoustic music catapulted into the stratosphere by David Grisman, Tony Rice, John Reischman and others exploding out of the Bay Area in the 1970s and early ’80s, you know the legacy of the Gasoline Brothers. At small concerts and close-quarter gigs around the Bay Area and beyond, the interaction between…

Dark Shadow DSR 202101 The is Rick Faris’ newest release on which he is joined as the core group by Laura Orshaw (fiddle), Russ Carson (banjo), and Zak McLamb (bass). While Faris plays guitar and sings lead, he is also joined on various cuts by Sam Bush (mandolin, vocal), Ronnie McCoury (mandolin, vocal), Jason Carter…

Coming off winning a Grammy for his stunning 2019 release Home, plus an IBMA “Entertainer of the Year” award in Raleigh last October, Billy Strings, in many ways, defines bluegrass music in the 21st Century for a multitude of fans. The subject of an in-depth portrait in The New York Times that plumbed the depths…

In 1998, throat-worn and road weary, the divine Miss Emm needed a musical break from touring with her thrilling, yet vocally taxing, fully electric Hot Band. Looking for not just relief for her physical voice, but also for her muse, Harris turned to longtime friend John Starling, and the good doctor penned the perfect prescription….

The New Acoustic Collective is a young string band based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Led by band leader and composer Jason Keiser (guitar), the group includes co-leader Alonso Sanchez (double bass), David Boyden (fiddle), Rodrigo Ruiz (double bass), and Nathaniel Grohmann (cello). The group cites their influences to include David Grisman’s…