Reviews

Kurt & Andrea Stephenson Traditional bluegrass fans will find a lot to like in the first release by the husband-wife duo of Kurt & Andrea Stephenson. The self-titled album features a dozen tunes that will be familiar to first generation fans.  The couple kicks things off with Reno & Smiley’s “Sockeye” and ends with the…

Leftover salmon “These are the brand new good old days/ My used to was got stuck in yesterday/ It’s never more now than it is today,” sings guitarist Vince Herman on the title track from Leftover Salmon’s eighth studio album.  “Brand New Good Old Days,” is a song so infectious it immediately lodges itself at…

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…

There once was a time when supergroups, those unique combinations of musicians who had already achieved great success with other bands before banding together, regularly roamed the earth, but over time these collections and configurations of musicians seemed to happen less and less.  Then along comes the High Hawks, an all-star roster of talent from…

Tiki Parlour Recordings 019 The duo has an unusual name, an uncommon make up, and a catchy, foot-tapping sound that proves irresistible over a 12-song effort. Gabrielle Macrae and Barry Southern are the Horsenecks and Started Out in Town is their third album. It’s a worthy effort. Macrae is a fiddle player from Oregon who…