Articles

ALICE GERRARD BITTERSWEET Spruce and Maple Music SMM 1008 Starting off a CD with an a cappella number is a gutsy move. But Alice Gerrard and producer Laurie Lewis are gutsy musicians. Bittersweet, Alice’s first solo CD in ten years, finds the two friends combining their considerable talents to showcase thirteen strong originals by Alice….

THE MURPHY METHOD: BANJO BACKUP FOR FIDDLE TUNES—TAUGHT BY CASEY HENRY AND MURPHY HENRY WITH MEGAN LYNCH ON FIDDLE—Murphy Method MB30372DVD. 99 mins., $29.99. (Murphy Method, P.O. Box 2498, Winchester, VA 22604, www.murphymethod.com.) Perhaps the biggest leap a beginning banjo player can take is to go from playing by herself to playing with others. It’s…

OLD BUCK Tin Halo Music THMCD-1013    Old Buck features Riley Baugus on banjo and guitar, Emily Schaad on fiddle, Debra Clifford on guitar and mandolin, and Sabra Guzman on bass. All four sing and play with both power and subtlety, and all four are very well-known names in old-time music and beyond. This CD opens…

NU-BLU TEN Rural Rhythm RUR 1114 Carolyn Routh, the centerpiece of the band that she and her husband Daniel (vocals and guitar) formed, is a stupendous singer who ranks among the likes of Rhonda Vincent and Claire Lynch. Under her powers, ballads like “Without A Kiss” (co-written by Scott Filson, Michael Mahler, and Bill Filson)…

DARIN AND BROOKE ALDRIDGE FLYING Organic Records OR14822 When you hear the opener “Maybe Just A Little,” you know right away that bluegrass, in the traditional sense, is probably taking a back seat on the recording as a whole. The first notes, played by Darin Aldridge on mandolin, lull you briefly into thinking otherwise, but…

THE TUTTLES WITH A.J. LEE ENDLESS OCEAN Back Studio Records BSR-003 Family bands are the backbone of bluegrass music. From the Monroes to the Stonemans to the Cherryholmes, young pickers have honed their skills in the bosom of family. Jack Tuttle, a much-loved California fiddler, heads up this particular outfit, anchoring his teenagers Molly, Michael,…