Articles

Old Bondy. Cowboy’s Dream. Three Thin Dimes. Two White Nickels. I was living in the tiny hamlet of Spring Valley, Ohio, in 1975, when I first heard the name, “Old Bondy,” and those three tunes. I was sharing a rundown house on Main Street with Rick Good and fiddler Greg Dearth. Rick played banjo and…

“Home is where we shelter out the storm, and home is where the fire keeps us warm,” sings Leftover Salmon banjo-picker Andy Thorn on the opening track from his new solo release, Fox Songs and Other Tales from the Pandemic, an album crafted during the dark days of a growing worldwide pandemic and a gentle…

Sometimes a great attribute for an album is to be called “different.” Down in the Deepest Shade of Blue is different and it sounds, well, old.  I don’t know Steve Ludwig or any Casual Hobos, but I think this group would take that as a compliment. It’s their first album and all eight songs were…

There’s something special, something almost unquantifiable, that an assured and accomplished veteran brings to a musical project.  And you can sure hear that something special on singer extraordinaire/mandolin master Tina Adair’s new solo album, her first in nearly a decade. Adair, of course, has had a high profile of late as a member of the…

SEA COW RECORDS Bill Christophersen is a fiddle player from the New York area and is steeped in the traditional style of the music, having been influenced by such traditional groups as the New Lost City Ramblers, and others. Since 1971 he has performed with the Lazy Aces, Fly By Night String Band, the Rock-House…

In the course of three albums and seven years, this immensely talented New York-based band has carved out a unique and remarkable niche. Nefesh is led by singer-banjo player Eric Lindberg and his partner, singer Doni Zasloff. Relying on the couple’s exquisite songwriting, Nefesh has refined a stylistic integration of bluegrass, Celtic and Eastern European…