Reviews
Industrial Strength Bluegrass—Southwestern Ohio’s Musical Legacy
Edited by Fred Bartenstein and Curtis W. Ellison Reviewed By Robert C. Buckingham University of Illinois Press The spread of bluegrass reflects the movement of populations from the poverty and adversity of the mountains to places with more opportunity. Southwestern Ohio, with its industrial economy, was one of these places. In a response to employment opportunities during…
Late Bloom
Graber gryass Don’t say they didn’t warn you…The Facebook page for Graber Gryass lists the band as “Hard-hitting, joy-inducing original music and earth-bound bluegrass, acoustic psychedelic music from Memphis, TN. A collective joy-making machine. Astral yet rooted to the magnetic core.” After giving a listen to the group’s debut album, Late Bloom, it’s as good…
Live From The Don Owens Show, Washington, D.C., 1958-1959
Bluegrass Champs Yep Roc Records YEP-2555 I woke up this morning with the chorus of “Rock-a-Bye Boogie” going through my head. Just the words “rock-a-bye boogie” sung over and over, in a syncopated style, to a boogie-woogie beat. I’m obsessed with it. To me, this is the standout number in this collection of live performances…
The Sunny Side Of Life
Carolyn Eyerly Patuxent Music Cd-344 Northern Virginia native Carolyn Eyerly’s dulcet voice has long been familiar to bluegrass fans in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Eyerly co-founded and was lead singer for a D.C.-based folk group called Shenandoah Run. Later, she was a founding member of Sweet Yonder, an all-women bluegrass assembly that enjoyed regional…
Tunes & Ballads
Tim Stafford On his latest solo CD, Tim Stafford artfully carries the listener from the redolent smells of greasepaint, bison sweat and saddle leather inside the big top tent of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show to the gruesome and much publicized serial murders in Victorian London’s Whitechapel District (which oddly are overlapping eras) in a…
Cascade
Wes Corbett Padiddle Records “Cascade” is banjoist Wes Corbett’s first solo project since becoming the newest member of the Sam Bush Band. Corbett, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, now resides in Nashville where he also teaches banjo. Corbett cites his influences as Earl Scruggs’ banjo style, but also the melodic…