Reviews
Still Time To Dream
Originally from Massachusetts, Amy Clay studied to become a classically-trained violinist. However, after moving to the San Francisco Bay area, she began getting into other styles of playing, like country and bluegrass music. She played with area musicians and attended local jams, and a few years ago she started writing her own material about subjects…
Bread and Butter
North Carolina born and raised fiddler Amy Kassir has a deep affection and powerful affinity for old-time fiddle music. Recently, she’s been a member of several California-based bands, which is where she now resides. On these nine-cut all-instrumental collection of old-timey music, she is joined by Carter Eddy (bass), Fred Levine (fiddle), Jake Eddy (guitar,…
Daggomit
Max Wareham, who’s spent the last several years in Peter Rowan’s band, really knows his way around the banjo, as his debut album attests. Rowan produced Daggomit, and contributes generously, with several cowrites with Wareham and two lead vocals. Though Wareham only sings on a couple of tracks, including “Hard Times Are Far Behind” (cowritten with…
The Never Ending Years
A former IBMA Momentum Instrumentalist of the year and national mandolin champion, Thomas Cassell has performed with everyone from Billy Strings and Jim Lauderdale to Missy Raines, Becky Buller and Bryan Sutton. His latest album, and follow-up to his 2028 instrumental collection Voyager reveals Cassell’s impressive talents as both a singer and lyricist. There’s a…
Wall Dogs
Tim Stafford’s and Thomm Jutz’s sophomore album is kind of like a songwriting class on CD. They really show how it’s done. Jutz, a prolific writer and former IBMA Songwriter of the Year, does in fact lecture on songwriting at Nashville’s Belmont University. Stafford, also a an IBMA Songwriter of the Year, is a former…
Old Juniper
This is a trio based in the Brooklyn, New Yorik area and consists of Walker Shepard (vocals, guitar, banjo, fiddle), Jackson Lynch (vocals, fiddle, guitar, banjo), and Eli Smith (banjo, guitar, banjo-mandolin, pump organ, harmonica), however Walker Shepard has since relocated to Wisconsin. There is also guest artist Hannah Shepard on cello. This is the…