Reviews
Too Late Now
Susan Nikas is a singer-songwriter from the San Dimas area of California. Her career began in 1987 when she joined the band Clay County as their singer. Clay County was founded by banjoist Jim Dawson, and mandolinist Frank Abraham. Bassist Jim Logue joined them in the studio but was soon replaced by Leslie Spitz. It…
Livin’ Large
Donna Ulisse is a superb, celebrated and oft-covered singer-songwriter whose ears and heart are finely attuned to the bluegrass mainstream. On her twelfth album her magic touch with lyrics and melody continues to impress. Ulisse wrote or cowrote eight of these 11 songs, and their power lies in the way she cuts straight to the…
Martin Luxe Contour Pick
We live in a golden era for flat picks, with custom and boutique pick makers producing beautifully fashioned plectrums in a truly bewildering range of space age materials, shapes, and bevels. Into that market comes C.F. Martin with its newly introduced Luxe Contour Pick. Using a shape similar to the Blue Chip TP-1R, it features…
Just Off the Wilderness Road, Songs of the Cumberland Gap Region
A concept album of 16 songs focusing on stories and characters from the Cumberland Gap area of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia takes the listener back in time. Twenty-seven artists whose familes are originally from the region are featured, with lead vocals from Teddy Cosby, Bryan Turner, Phillip Powers, James Clark, Joseph Wilson, Randall Massengill, Jason…
Brothersville
The Flowers brothers, Doug and Dwayne, live in the small town of Hephzibah, Georgia, not far from Augusta. The town’s original name was Brothersville, hence the name of this new project from Doug and his band. Band members include Doug Flowers (mandolin, vocals), Dwayne Flowers (bass, vocals), Edward Dalton (guitar, vocals), Aaron Lamb (banjo, vocals),…
Masters of Tonewood: The Hidden Art of Fine Stringed-Instrument Making
Many bluegrass musicians love to “geek-out” about their instruments. They talk about the make, the model, the builder, the year it was built, the woods used, the dimensions, the strings, the bridges, the tuners, the nuts and saddles…it is not uncommon for anything and everything about the instruments to be studied, analyzed and discussed. Since…