Reviews

Bluegrass veteran Chris Jones has an incredibly appealing voice. It conveys soulfulness, dignity and integrity. It’s a voice you can trust as he shares his exquisitely crafted and deeply felt original songs with us. Many of Jones’s songs approach age-old themes from fresh and slightly elliptical angles, and they’re often tinged with a sense of…

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….

Norman Blake, who has recorded and collaborated with everyone from Bob Dylan and Joan Baez to Johnny Cash and Tony Rice, is a devoted keeper of the keys to the heritage and history of American popular music. Blake’s latest record—which he recorded in a single afternoon in a Fort Payne, Alabama studio—contains of couple of…

Maddie Denton may be one of the best fiddle players you’ve heard, but not heard of.  That might change with the release of her debut album, Playin’ in this Town.  A veteran of the fiddle competition circuit, Denton has won 14 state titles in five states since 2008. She also handles fiddle duties for the…

Turnberry Records TBR-110 “Starlett & Big John” are Starlett Boswell (vocals, bass) and “Big” John Talley (vocals, guitar). Together they are joined on this project by Jonathan Dillon (mandolin), David Carroll (banjo), and Ron Stewart (fiddle). They are also helped by special guests Mo Canada (guitar), and Skip Cherryholmes (vocals), who also co-produced the album…