20

As this impressive album attests, the Grascals, with 20 years of history, and members coming and going (and in the case of founding member Jamie Johnson, coming back again), are still going as strong as ever.

They come blazing out of the chute with a salute to the Osborne Brothers, who’ve had an indelible influence on the band. (Founding member Terry Smith was once in the Osbornes’ band.) This collection opens with the boisterous, celebratory, “Tennessee Hound Dog,” one of a pair of songs written back in the day for the Osbornes by the legendary songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. This sextet serves up the Bryants’ “Georgia Pineywoods” (also originally recorded by the Osbornes) with similar exuberance.

Much of the rest of the album is packed with super-strong material, either cowritten by bandmembers or drawn from outside sources—such as Shawn Camp’s “Pull the Trigger.”  The band’s fine harmonies are heard throughout and award-winning banjo player Kristin Scott Benson’s bold yet subtle licks are like the super glue that holds it all together.

There’s a reprise of a whimsical Roger Miller tune called “Some People Make It,” and a tender-tragic coal-mine song called “Coal Dust Kisses.” There’s also a fine instrumental entitled “12^th & Pine.”  Just as striking are a pair of honky-tonk heartbreakers that really cut deep: “The First Step” and “I Need a Night Off.”

On the gospel side, there’s a powerful rendition of the Stephen McWhirter anthem “Come Jesus Come,” on which the Grascals’ transcendent vocal prowess kicks in full force. Based on this alone, the Grascals may well have yet another 20 years in them.