Reviews

Rising mandolin star Scott Napier’s career and life are on an upward trajectory. He’s just joined Wildfire as their new mandolinist, and he’s married to the stellar Lauren Price Napier of the Price Sisters, one of the top players and teachers of the pure Monroe-style bluegrass mandolin embodied by the likes of Mike Compton and…

Paolo Ercoli is a resonator guitarist from Brianza, Italy who has performed with many artists such as Eric Anderson, Malcolm Holcombe, Steve Forbert, and Kevin Welch, to name a few. Ercoli also plays mandolin, guitar and pedal steel, but he is best known as a square neck resonator guitarist, having been influenced by the playing…

If you have ever driven through the old downtown area of Mt. Airy, NC, whether to go to the Mt. Airy Bluegrass & Old-time Fiddler’s Convention or to visit the Andy Griffith Museum and Theatre, you will have probably noticed the Mayberry’s Music Center. The business has been run by James Easter of the legendary…

John Reischman’s sound on the mandolin has always been a striking one, crystalline and clear, like a rushing stream. He has said this sparkling tone comes from the slanted angle he holds his pick at and the naturally full resonance of his Gibson Lloyd Loar. Hearing his latest album, New Time & Old Acoustic, I…

While the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to live in-person music performances, it did spawn some great creative work.  A prime example is Grit & Polish, an album that veteran musicians Mark Schatz and Bryan McDowell recorded in Schatz’s basement. It was created without much in the way of overdubbing and transports the listener to…

This debut alum from the lead singer and guitarist of the acclaimed Texas band Wood & Fire is a stylistically varied and winning collection of wise and exquisitely crafted original songs. Back Down Home features gripping arrangements that feature everything from banjos, fiddles and pedal steel to saxes, trumpets and a B3 organ while running…