Introducing The Southwest Bluegrass All-Stars

Members of the Southwest Bluegrass All-Stars are: banjo master Bill Evans, a recipient of the Steve Martin Banjo Prize; New Mexico-based  bass player Anne Luna; Austin songwriter Elliott Rogers, who’s worked with the likes of Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith and the Alan Munde Gazette; and Steve Smith, a New Mexico-based mandolinist extraordinaire, who has served stints in the Hard Road Trio.

The four of them, with their Texas and New Mexico connections, have melded their talents meticulously on this inspired five-song EP.  Rogers provides three originals on which he sings lead. There’s the hard-driving “Bluegrass Trucker,” the doleful, old-timey “Lay My Shovel Down” and an intriguing story song called “Buster and Nancy.”

Smith handles lead vocals on a spirited reprise of “Wreck of the Old ’97.” Alan Munde sits in on banjo for the exhilarating reprise of “Deputy Dalton,” which Munde and Byron Berline cowrote back in the day.

Needless to say, the picking here is first-rate throughout and the tracks are infused with an energy and fervor that’s infectious.