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LEONARD HOLLIFIELD A GENTLE SOUTHERN WIND Regal Media Group No Number Calling the faster songs here “hard-driving” would be something of a misnomer. Calling the slower songs here “intense” would also be a stretch. The fastest songs—the swinging “I Saw Your Face In The Moon,” and “My Window Faces The South”—move along at a modest…

VICTOR FURTADO Patuxent Music CD-261 This young man has a firm grasp of the art of the clawhammer banjo. He can drive it hard and has melodic touch influenced by the great Adam Hurt. There is a sense of a music world far beyond the realm of old-time mountain music in this young man’s approach….

DANIEL GREESON Patuxent Music CD-254    Greeson first came to many folks’ attention with his work on the Close Kin project, Close Kin: Our Roots Run Deep. His chops are quite prevalent there, but, here, they are front and foremost. His tone is full and his intonation is spot-on. He gets all of the notes…

BUDDY MERRIAM AND BACK ROADS THE FARM Lily Pad Records #535  Buddy Merriam and Back Roads open their seventh recording with a gently-insistent, minor-key original called “New Echota.” With its descending chord pattern and droning ’60s rock-instrumental feel, it makes for a captivating introduction. Yes, it’s a little long given its repetitive form, but it…

KITTY AMARAL FIDDLE GEMS String Dreams SD-101 This young lady has been garnering attention with her fiddling over the past four years, even playing on the Grand Ole Opry about the time of this writing. Kitty moved with her family to the mountains of Southwest Virginia and came to know a fiddling neighbor, Jerry Correll….

THE CROWE BROTHERS FORTY YEARS OLD Mountain Fever Records MFR 141028 With the release of Forty Years Old, the Crowe Brothers, Josh and Wayne, do a nice job of straddling the line between country and bluegrass. Using bluegrass instrumentation (Wayne on bass, Josh on guitar, Steve Sutton on banjo and dojo, Brian Blaylock on mandolin,…