Articles

ALAN MUNDE & BILLY BRIGHT BRIGHT MUNDE Munde’s Child Records MCR004    Picture yourself sitting at your kitchen table with a nice cup of coffee. On one side is Billy Bright with his mandolin and mandola. On the other side is Alan Munde with his banjo. You get the full stereo effect as they start…

CROWE, LAWSON & WILLIAMS STANDING TALL AND TOUGH Mountain Home MH15022    Following on the success of their first release Old Friends Get Together, J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, and Paul Williams have released another fine collection of 12 songs with solid instrumental support and sterling vocal work. This offering features Lawson on guitar, Williams on…

BOB AMOS SUNRISE BLUES Bristlecone 1008    For those like me who still thought of Bob Amos primarily as the songwriting lead vocalist with Front Range, Sunrise Blues is an ear-opener in many ways. It’s no surprise that he has filled the tracks of his latest CD with several fine new songs, all firmly anchored…

THE EARLS OF LEICESTER Rounder Records 3577 Utterly natural, sparkling from beginning to end, and completely sincere might be all I should write in review of the stunning all-star release The Earls Of Leicester. The album sounds as if the bandmembers cut their teeth on this music. Oh right, the six did cut their teeth…

PHIL LEADBETTER THE NEXT MOVE Pinecastle Records PRC 1192 Given what Phil Leadbetter has been through the last few years, the temptation is to look for symbols or meanings hidden in his song selection for his new CD. Does this song symbolize this? Or does that one mean that? Some titles certainly seem so. The…

FRANK SOLIVAN & DIRTY KITCHEN COLD SPELL Compass Records 7 4633 2    It’s a bit of an over-simplification to pigeonhole Frank Solivan and his band as the early twenty-first century answer to the Newgrass Revival. But I think the comparison is apt, just as I think the presence of two former Newgrassers, John Cowan…