Articles

JOHNNY JACKSON & JAMES STILTNER TRIBUTE TO BILL NAPIER No Label No Number It’s good to see somebody saluting Bill Napier. This writer saw him several times in the late 1950s when he was playing mandolin with the Stanley Brothers. He also supplied typical country comedy as “Pap,” a garrulous old man who wore a…

ROB ICKES AND TREY HENSLEY BEFORE THE SUN GOES DOWN Compass Records 7 4639 2 Rob Ickes is the sideman par excellence, well-known for his vibrant resonator guitar work and, here, offers a glimpse at his considerable lap steel skills. Trey Hensley is a guitarist and vocalist with a world of talent. As is often…

NIGHTFLYER RAIL RIVER & ROAD Kang Records No Number Nightflyer is a fairly new bluegrass band based out of southwestern Ohio, an area that has produced a lot of music over the last sixty years or so. The group features Richard Propps on guitar and lead vocals, Rick Hayes on mandolin and vocals, the other…

VOLUME FIVE VOICES Mountain Fever Records MFR150120 Four times, I’ve had the welcome opportunity to review a CD from Volume Five. Setting aside their 2014 gospel recording, simply because gospel recordings tend to have a different feel and approach, their second and third releases were distinguished by alternate use of light, tradition-based bluegrass set against…

RED WINE PICKIN’ FRIENDS No Label, RW008 Thirty years ago or so, I met a banjo player in Louisville while wandering the perimeter of the audience area of the Kentucky Fried Chicken Bluegrass Festival. Nothing odd about that, save that this five-string picker, Silvio Ferretti of Red Wine, was from Genova, Italy. Like a fine…

FRANK WAKEFIELD AND RED ALLEN THE WDON RECORDINGS, 1963 Patuxent Music CD-258 In 1960, mandolinist Frank Wakefield moved from Kentucky to Maryland. A few months later, vocalist/guitarist Red Allen did the same, and the two resumed their musical association. Their group was eventually filled out by, as is heard on this recording, banjoist Pete Kuykendall…