Articles

DELTA REIGN NOTHING BUT SKY Travianna Records TR150407 This is easy listening bluegrass. The band simmers along with some sweet songs delivered in an unhurried style featuring Belinda Murphy’s vocals. On the fourth cut, they go up-tempo and drive into “Nothing But Sky,” a very catchy song. They dig in and get to the old…

BUD’S COLLECTIVE No Label No Number A quartet originally from West Virginia, Bud’s Collective delivers an uneven, eponymous album full of both high and low points. Formed in 2012, the young group has experienced some success.  They placed second at SPBGMA in 2013 and won the D.C. Bluegrass Union’s Mid-Atlantic Band Competition. The band also…

ANTIQUE PERSUASION DON’T FORGET ME LITTLE DARLING: REMEMBERING THE CARTER FAMILY Voxhall Records VHR 12003 This is a tale of two concepts; as in one of the best albums of the year released in 2015 that unfortunately bears one of the worst band names in recent memory. Rest assured, I love this recording. But, whoever…

BAND OF RUHKS 101 Ranch Recordings RRBR22    This is an important and powerful release from three of today’s strongest personalities in bluegrass music. A local bluegrass DJ refused to play this CD because, in his opinion, it was country and not bluegrass. That line has been blurred for at least fifty years by well-established bands…

DAILEY & VINCENT ALIVE! IN CONCERT Pillar Stone Records No Number With a number of IBMA awards to their credit since 2008, Dailey & Vincent must be regarded as one of the premiere bluegrass bands to emerge in the last decade. Alive! In Concert is their first live recording, and their third release through the…

GIBSON BROTHERS BROTHERHOOD Rounder Records 35986 This was an album the Gibson Brothers had to make, being a part of the long line of brother acts whose harmony singing blends so naturally. But, what’s cool about this project is that they waited to record it. They didn’t use the “brother-act sings the songs of other…