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THE OUTLIERS No Label No Number Sprinkled among the 14 tracks here are several tunes worthy of special mention, beginning with the moderately-galloping opener, “Waitin’.” Written and sung by the band’s principle lead vocalist and writer, guitarist Hank Bowman, “Waitin’” essentially admonishes us that we have to work at what we want rather than waiting…

TODD TAYLOR INDESCRIBABLE Pirate Records No Number Touring with his sibling as the Taylor Twins in the 1970s, Todd Taylor made the rounds on the bluegrass music circle, performing with Bill Monroe, Jim & Jesse, and Carl Story, to name a few. As a solo banjo man, he has been nominated 24 times for a…

MARK HOUSER AND BLUEGRASS DRIVE UNEVEN ROAD Rural Rhythm RUR-1107 It has been 24 years since songwriter Mark Houser’s first recording. This is his second. In between he wrote and co-wrote songs for a number of performers, most notably Carrie Hassler and The Roys. Uneven Road ties many of those threads together. Houser wrote both…

AMERICAN DRIVE Rural Rhythm RUR-1108 You probably know the members of American Drive as four-fifths of J.D. Crowe’s last version of the New South. When Crowe called it a day, guitarist/vocalist Rickey Wasson, mandolinist/vocalist Dwight McCall, resonator guitarist/vocalist Matt Despain, and bassist Kyle Perkins kept the band together and signed with Rural Rhythm. Joining the…

RICKY SKAGGS AND KENTUCKY THUNDER MUSIC TO MY EARS Skaggs Family Records 6989010132 This latest release from Ricky Skaggs begins with a slow, relaxed, but punchy  version of “Blue Night,” followed by a rousing version of Don Stover’s  classic “Things In Life,”  with Ricky supplying some nice clawhammer banjo work. “You Can’t Hurt Ham” is…

BLUEGRASS BLUESMAN: JOSH GRAVES, A MEMOIR—EDITED BY FRED BARTENSTEIN—University of Illinois Press 9780252078644. Foreword by Neil Rosenberg, 133 pp., $21.95. (Univ. Of Illinois Press, Chicago Distribution Ctr., 11030 S. Langley Ave., Chicago, IL 60628, press.uillinois.edu.) Yet another must-read book from the University of Illinois Press. Readers of this magazine don’t need to be reminded of…