Reviews

The SPGMA award-winning band Coyote Ugly has released its debut album, Ponderosa.  The band may be new, but they bring years of bluegrass experience with some of the genre’s top groups. Banjoist Joey Cox held down five-string duties for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Blueridge, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Lou Reid & Carolina and The Jeff…

Marc Pruett, the banjo player in Balsam Range, has had a long and very impressive career in bluegrass music.  He was born in 1951 and raised in the town of Canton (near Asheville) in the mountains of North Carolina.  He may be one of the few guys around today performing in a top-tier active bluegrass…

Cardinyl Class Records Davis Bradley has traditional instruments and traditional songs, but in their latest gospel album, Believing in the Old Time Way, they offer a different take. It’s the fourth album for the Virginia-based duo who offer plenty of elements from bluegrass, old-time and gospel to build this 12-song collection.  Kathy Davis sings and…

Barbaro is a four-piece band based in the Minneapolis-Winona area of Minnesota. Members include Isaac Sammis on banjo, Kyle Shelstad on guitar, Rachel Calvert on fiddle, Jason Wells on bass, and the group is joined on this project by guest artist Julian Davis on mandolin.  It was back in 2018 when the band gained recognition…

Orchard Creek Band is yet another powerhouse bluegrass ensemble to recently emerge from Colorado’s vibrant and vital bluegrass scene. Though this is the band’s debut outing, the individual members bring a ton of professional experience to their shared endeavor. It’s no slight to Colorado to mention that nearly all the members have musical roots in…

Bonfire Music Group If you’re in a hurry when you get to this review and just want the writer to get to the point, let him save you some time: go ahead and buy All of These Years, the debut album from Steve Thomas and The Time Machine. If it seems to odd to see…