Articles

REBECCA FRAZIER WHEN WE FALL Compass Records 746032 Rebecca Frazier is a triple-threat performer. She sings with great conviction and polish in a manner and voice capable of both soft, half-whispered asides and of power and strong emotion. She plays guitar well enough to have been on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. And she…

JIMMY BOWEN AND SANTA FE THE SKY IS WEEPING Santa Fe Records SF-6889 Jimmy Bowen’s fifth record (fourth bluegrass) with his band Santa Fe offers a near textbook example of diverse song selection. There’s a little bit of everything (with the exception of an instrumental piece) drawing from sources old and new, and offering a…

VOLUME FIVE RUN Mountain Fever Records MFR130219 Noticeably diminished on this new CD from Volume Five is the lighter more lilting material that graced their previous release. That change of direction can, in part, be traced to the departure of singer/guitarist Adam Duke. On the last recording, Duke alternated the lead singing duties with fiddler…

JIM GAUDET AND THE RAILROAD BOYS REASONS THAT I RUN No Label MH-804 “You Don’t Know What I Know,” the opener to Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys’ fourth recording, is an apt title for the song. He wrote it and he knows what it’s about. For the rest of us, we’re left to wonder….

NICK AMODEO No Label No Number One of the best ways to guage an instrumentalist is to consider their handling of the standards. There are two such standards on Nick Amodeo’s all-instrumental, six-song debut. One is “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” the other is Bill Monroe’s “The Evening Prayer Blues.” On both of those, Amodeo stays fairly…

DOYLE LAWSON AND QUICKSILVER ROADS WELL TRAVELED Mountain Home Music MH14612 Doyle Lawson, as we all know, has had a long career in bluegrass music. When he was inducted into the IBMA Hall Of Fame in 2012, he said, “I’ve got a lot of fuel left in my tank with a lot of plans in…