Reviews

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…

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…