Articles

TYLER WILLIAMS HEART OVER MIND No Label No Number From Ohio by way of East Tennessee State University, Tyler Williams debuts with a pleasing and varied 12-song mix that includes four Mark Brinkman originals, a couple of standards, and several well-chosen covers. Though he plays guitar and piano and writes songs, Williams’ role here is…

MICHELLE CANNING THE FLOWER AND THE SERPENT No Label No Number Finding new talent in bluegrass is always a thrill, especially when it’s someone with the gifts of newcomer Michelle Canning. Based in eastern Massachusetts, Canning and her band Rough Edges play a combination of fast-driving bluegrass, contemporary ballads, standards, and original material. For her…

BARWICK & SIEGFRIED THE TRESTLE FGM Records FGM-1501    What makes the duo format so musically appealing is the same thing that makes it so daunting. There is absolutely no place to hide. Every note played or sung, and each that’s left un-played, must find its perfect place in order to achieve that sublime blend…

THE BLUEGRASS BROTHERS GENERATIONS Mountain Fever Records MFR 140715 The Bluegrass Brothers have to be recognized as one of the premier proponents of the progressive/traditional style of bluegrass on the stage today—traditional in overall sound, but progressive in finding new material and exciting and interesting ways to deliver it. Spearheaded by Victor and Robert Dowdy…

THE MUSIC OF THE STANLEY BROTHERS—BY GARY B. REID—University of Illinois Press 9780252080333. Foreword by Neil V. Rosenberg, 312 pp., 51 photos, discography, $30. (Univ. Of Ill. Press, Chicago Distribution Center, 11030 S. Langley Ave., Chicago, IL 60628, www.press.uillinois.edu.) Readers of this magazine should need no introduction to Gary Reid, but as there are always…

UNCLE DAVE MACON: A PHOTO TRIBUTE—BY MICHAEL D. DOUBLER—Macon Doubler Fellowship 9780692210246.  Softback, 32 pp., $14. (County Sales, P.O. Box 191, Dept. 3, Floyd, VA 24091, www.countysales.com.) Uncle Dave Macon (1870-1952) is the patron saint of the five-string banjo and the man who brought it from nineteenth century minstrelsy to the core of country music…