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BANJO: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY BY BOB CARLIN Hal Leonard 9781495011245. Foreword by Tony Trischka, 258 pages, hardcover, color photographs, index, $35. (Hal Leonard, 7777 W. Bluemound Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53213, www.halleonard.com.) I have long enjoyed Bob Carlin’s clawhammer banjo playing, both as a solo artist and as a member of the John Hartford String Band….

THE PRICE SISTERS Rebel Records REB CD-1860    There is a phrase used in a lot of places, and it fits in bluegrass music as well: “rolling out the big guns.” This could not be more truer than with the debut self-titled album from The Price Sisters. Not too many first efforts get backing from two…

JOHN McEUEN MADE IN BROOKLYN  Chesky Records JD388    There have been a handful of albums that have been responsible for bringing new bluegrass fans into the fold, even if the recordings themselves might not have been mainstream bluegrass. Examples include Old & In The Way’s eponymous album, the soundtrack for O Brother Where Art Thou,…

NORMAN BLAKE BRUSHWOOD: SONGS & STORIES Plectrafone Records 824761-17528-5 Over a long career known for his musical integrity and his respect for tradition, Norman Blake has established a singular legacy as a guitarist, mandolinist, songwriter, singer, and session man. His newest recording has the feel of a final statement, as if he’s spent an extended…

WILDFIRE RENTED ROOM ON BROADWAY Pinecastle Records PRC 1201 One of the best “going home” songs of recent vintage opens the new recording from Wildfire. “Home Again” is a gentle medium loper, very smooth and impossible not to like. It calls to mind the work of The Grascals album of a couple releases back. They…

THE PIEDMONT MELODY MAKERS WONDERFUL WORLD OUTSIDE Vigortone Records VT-2007 The Piedmont Melody Makers (Alice Gerrard, Chris Brashear, Cliff Hale, and Jim Watson) have released a very pleasant 16-cut CD which gently winds through the rural styles prevalent in The South (and elsewhere) in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. The…