Reviews
The Next Mountain
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…
Radio Days
It’s rare for bands to stay together for long in any genre or to keep a franchise going through multiple generations of listeners. However, the Chuck Wagon Gang has defied that pattern. The group has been around for 80 years, obviously with many, many band changes. It started during the golden age of radio and…
Somewhere Beyond The Blue
This powerhouse, multi-IBMA Award-winning band bounds out full-tilt on this soulful 11-song bluegrass gospel collection. Aside from the Ramblers’ commanding gospel quartet vocal arrangements and top-notch picking, Beyond the Blue is informed with an inspired balance of traditional material and newer compositions by some of the music’s most celebrated composers. The rousing opening track, “Hear…
I’ll Come Back
Maybe it’s a double-edged sword to call someone a prodigy, so I won’t use the word here. Even so, 23-year-old AJ Lee, singer/songwriter/mandolin player/bandleader extraordinaire is something special. For starters, she launched her bluegrass career at age 7, along with her guitarist Sullivan Tuttle, who was then 9. They started out as members of The…
Play And Sing Bluegrass
In the liner notes to their sophomore album, this Vancouver-based quartet states its musical mission. The bandmembers describe their delightfully retro approach (recording around one microphone) and image (dressing in matching, ties, vests and white shirts) as, “our way of paying tribute to those who have been playing (bluegrass) a lot longer than we have.”…
Béla Fleck
Decades from now, don’t be surprised if Béla Fleck’s superb My Bluegrass Heart project has influenced today＊s rising tide of young bluegrassers as the David Grisman Quintet, Fly Through The Country, and Rounder 0044 records were to the prior generation. Populated with heroes from every part of Fleck’s musical journey, from David Grisman and the…