Reviews

In 1998, throat-worn and road weary, the divine Miss Emm needed a musical break from touring with her thrilling, yet vocally taxing, fully electric Hot Band. Looking for not just relief for her physical voice, but also for her muse, Harris turned to longtime friend John Starling, and the good doctor penned the perfect prescription….

Norman Blake, who has recorded and collaborated with everyone from Bob Dylan and Joan Baez to Johnny Cash and Tony Rice, is a devoted keeper of the keys to the heritage and history of American popular music. Blake’s latest record—which he recorded in a single afternoon in a Fort Payne, Alabama studio—contains of couple of…

Maddie Denton may be one of the best fiddle players you’ve heard, but not heard of.  That might change with the release of her debut album, Playin’ in this Town.  A veteran of the fiddle competition circuit, Denton has won 14 state titles in five states since 2008. She also handles fiddle duties for the…

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…

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.”…

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…