Reviews

Don Schlitz (guitar) is an award-winning songwriter who has garnered two Grammys as well as being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. These are just few of his awards as he has written songs for such as Kenny Rogers, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Randy Travis, Keith Whitley, The…

New Englander Chris Brashear is a performer, teacher, and recording artist who plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and bass. While living in Arizona he met Peter McLaughlin with whom he has collaborated on a few projects including this one. McLaughlin is also a performer, recording artist, and instructor. He plays guitar and mandolin. Both sing and…

This Portland, Oregon-based “bluegrass and Americana” band has a swingy, sassy, versatile and captivating style.  You can hear this vividly on the despairing title tune of Never Come Down’s sophomore album. It has a subtle Latin feel. And here, as well on other original cuts, such as the swing-infused “New Year’s Blues,” “Catch Me,” “Sleepin’”…

This project is the tenth in the Country Faith series of faith-based music recordings by top country artists as created and produced by Deborah Evans Price and Danny McGuffey. This newest collection, co-produced by Jerry Salley, contains 14 songs from some of bluegrass music’s well-known artists performing either newly recorded tunes or taken from the…

The voices of John Cloyd Miller and Natalya Zoe Weinstein, long-time veterans of Asheville, North Carolina’s roots music scene, blend together seamlessly and soulfully on this compelling collection of mostly all original songs.  These 11 cuts range from high-lonesome honky-grass heartbreakers (“Everything But Me”) and old-timey gospel (“That Home Far Away”) to a haunting crime…

Students and aficionados of the clawhammer-style banjo will love this sparkling and captivating debut album by lifelong Baltimore resident Brad Kolodner.  Kolodner, who in the past has performed and recorded extensively with his father Ken (founder and long-time member of the group Helicon) and with Charm City, his own “old-time bluegrass fusion” band, really mixes…