Reviews
Larry’s Songbook
Patuxent Music The McPeak Brothers, out of Wytheville, VA, had a significant impact on bluegrass music during their run from the early 1960s right through to the 1990s, mainly due to their fine vocal arrangements and distinct songwriting. Along the way, they recorded for Rebel Records, County Records and RCA/Nashville. They were also featured on…
Masters of Slide
Mountain Home Sometimes compilations can be kind of … meh. They can often be a random sampler without much cohesion. Sometimes they turn out to be a historic record, especially when grouped around a theme or instrument, like Masters of Slide: The Spider Sessions, a resonator guitar collection put together by beloved Dobroman Phil Leadbetter….
Dirt Simple Upright Bass
Mel Bay Publications There are relatively few books on the market today that teach you how to play the upright bass in the context of bluegrass music, so Nate Sabat’s new book Dirt Simple Upright Bass is a very welcome addition to the world of bluegrass instructional material. In this 46-page book, which also…
Firecracker Day
It’s no empty figure of speech to say this Canadian mandolin/mandola master’s debut album was nearly two decades in the making. Maybe you could call it perseverance, or maybe you can call it procrastination, or maybe you could call it both. But in his liner notes, McNulty, who spent 40 years as a journalist, explains…
That Kind of Lonesome
Englehardt Music Group One thing is for sure — Eddie Sanders didn’t sit idly by during the pandemic last year. He’s followed up 2020’s all gospel album with a new bluegrass release, That Kind of Lonesome. Sanders co-wrote all 12 tracks on the album, sharing credits with Glen Duncan, Adam Englehardt, Jon Weisberger and Shawn…
The Hard Road Trio
This veteran New Mexico-based trio brings a captivating Southwestern perspective to its bluegrass and fleshes it out with some sophisticated songwriting and spirited picking and singing. The southwestern flavor shines through vividly on cuts like the nostalgic story-song “Weary Cowboy,” a rollicking cover of Guy Clark’s and Verlon Thompson’s “Hurricane Time In Texas” and “Adobe…