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RUSSELL MOORE & IIIrd TYME OUT PRIME TYME Rural Rhythm 1085 IIIrd Tyme Out’s predictably first-rate new album might have been subtitled Love And Geography since several of the stand-out songs poignantly address themes of love and physical separation. Willis Alan Ramsey’s “Goodbye Old Missoula,” Milan Miller’s “Pretty Little Girl From Galax,” Milan Miller’s and…

YO-YO MA, STUART DUNCAN, EDGAR MEYER AND CHRIS THILE THE GOAT RODEO SESSIONS Sony Classical 88697 841182 Not long ago, classical string players might have sniffed sarcastically at the suggestion that bluegrass-influenced musicians could approach them in tone and technique. And the bluegrassers, in turn, would probably have scoffed that a real picker doesn’t know…

DAILEY & VINCENT THE GOSPEL SIDE OF DAILEY & VINCENT Cracker Barrel/Rounder 11661-9214-2 Dailey & Vincent touch on a variety of religious music styles, including brother duet, traditional and contemporary bluegrass, country, and southern gospel, though curiously, not a cappella. Most basic in approach is their cover of Willie Nelson’s masterpiece of nostalgia and longed-for…

JUSSI SYREN AND THE GROUNDBREAKERS SHAVE AND HAIR CUT Goofin’ Fine Records GRCD 6168 Sounding for all the world like they come from the mountains a couple of hours drive southwest of the BU offices in Virginia, this band hails from several thousand miles away in northeast Finland. Make no mistake about it, these guys…

BILL EMERSON & SWEET DIXIE THE TOUCH OF TIME Rural Rhythm 1091 As one of bluegrass music’s most legendary banjo players, Bill Emerson has a remarkable résumé of awards, accomplishments, and celebrated collaborations stretching back to the 1950s. This is the third album that Emerson, a co-founder of the Country Gentlemen, has recorded and produced…

MERL JOHNSON BETTER MAN Patuxent Music PX-CD 229 One or two slight exceptions aside, the words “intense” or “driving” or “cutting” do not readily spring to mind listening to Merl Johnson’s new CD from Patuxent Music. His voice mellow, wistful, and dry, one that has elements of, among others, Mac Wiseman and Roland White, rarely…