Category Archives: Uncategorized

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“Nail by Nail” by Nu-Blu

Nu-Blu
Nail By Nail
Pinecastle Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Nu-Blu’s latest release on Pinecastle is an all-gospel album. The group was started by husband and wife team Daniel (guitar and vocals) and Carolyn (bass, lead vocals) Routh nearly a decade ago. They tend toward a contemporary bluegrass sound and this CD is no different. Don’t expect to hear their version of “Life’s Railway To Heaven.”

Traditionalists or not, there are some powerful songs in this collection and Nu-Blu does an excellent job presenting them. Bandmates Levi Austin (banjo, vocals) and Austin Koerner (mandolin) are joined by Greg Luck (IIIrd Tyme Out, J D Crowe) on fiddle along with the Rouths, all good musicians, providing excellent support for the vocals.

“The Abyss,” a haunting melody based on minor chords, is a plea for help because “Hell has called my marker in.” It’s the story of a person captured by sin and standing on the abyss of Hell. Starting with just Carolyn Routh singing and the guitar behind her, the mandolin and bass come in on the second verse, then it builds with the fiddle. By the time the banjo kicks into the break you’re captured by the song. What an excellent arrangement. “The Carpenter” has an easy-going sound, praising Jesus as a part of the singer’s life. Aside from the instrumentation, this could have been done by (no pun intended) the Carpenters. If you listen to just the melody it has the same kind of flow as many of their songs.

For Christian impact, the strongest song is “Hammer.”

The sound of a hammer on the nails

As it echoes through the hills

The pounding of the heart that they must kill

And I can’t erase it from my my mind

Though I’ve tried so many times

I’ll never forget the hammer on the nails

That’s a song that will stick with me, you can mark it down.

“Martha and Mary” (from the pens of Becky Buller and Nancy Cardwell [executive director of IBMA]), taken from Luke 10:38-42, is the oft repeated story of two sisters, one intent on meal preparations for the visiting Jesus while the other listens at his feet. It compares the singer to Martha, anxious to take an active role in her Chrsitian walk. Another easy-flowing number is “Where Did You Get That Water,” showing off the singing talent of Levi Austin. My only complaint about the CD is it’s another disc short of music with only seven songs. As good as Nu-Blu is here, a full CD would have been a better treat.

You don’t have to be a bluegrass fan to enjoy and be moved by this CD, and it should appeal to most of the bluegrass world, too.

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“There’s More Pretty Girls Than One” by McCamy’s Melody Sheiks featuring R. Crumb

McCamy’s Melody Sheiks featuring R. Crumb
There’s More Pretty Girls Than One 
Arhoolie Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

First off, if you haven’t seen director Terry Zwigoff’s 1994 documentary Crumb, do so now.

Having done that, you know who Robert Crumb is and why it’s not surprising that this American expatriate to France who digs old records is a guest artist on Ian McCamy’s fiddle project for the indispensible Arhoolie Records. You also know why There’s More Pretty Girls Than One is an apt title.

Crumb plays an easy rhythm guitar on all but a couple of the disc’s 17 tracks (he plays tenor banjo on the opening cut “Home! Sweet Home!”) and sings in a pretty straight old-time style on a a couple of familiar numbers: Charlie Poole’s “Goodbye Booze” and the the title track, which sounds fresh here for having been taken at more languid pace than is usual these days.

McCamy and his band—Stephen Harrison (piano, double bass, five-string banjo) and Ilan Moss (fiddle, five-string banjo)—are the real treat here, making this 51-minute pass down the memory lane populated by long-lost 78-rpm records a pleasure for devotees and newcomers alike, hopefully prompting the latter to track down some of the names in  the liner notes for further listening.

McCamy’s fiddle tone and approach are perfect for this project, grabbing all the old, woody tones without overplaying the nostalgia. When Moss joins on twin fiddle, as on “Old Molly Hare,” “Drunken Hiccups,” and “Sail Away Ladies, Sail Away,” it gets even better.

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“Sleep with One Eye Open” by Chris Thile & Michael Daves

Chris Thile & Michael Daves
Sleep with One Eye Open
Nonesuch Records
4 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

I came to love bluegrass music in 1999 and in that year began attending the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual World of Bluegrass conference and Fanfest, which was at that time held at the Galt House in Louisville. One of the great attractions of that week was the incessant jamming in the hallways, rooms and lobbies of that grand but slightly seedy hotel. You never knew who you were going to happen upon. For a couple of years, the nucleus of what would become Old Crow Medicine Show played in the main lobby, and they were horrible. But they paid their dues and look where they are now.

A friend of mine reports a few different exciting encounters with a jamming Chris Thile, beginning with his days as a child mandolin prodigy on into his teen years. This two-instrument, two-voice album, recorded with master Brooklyn-based six-stringer Michael Daves in four days at Jack White’s Third Man Studio in Nashville, has the combination of playfulness and virtuosity that many of us were occasionally lucky enough to find riding the Galt’s service elevators (waiting on the ones in the lobby was for suckers) and roaming its hallways.

The duo’s sixteen-song repertoire is heavy on jamming standards from the songbags of Monroe (“Rabbit in the Log,” “Tennessee Blues,” and “Cry, Cry Darling”) , Flatt & Scruggs (“My Littler Girl in Tennessee,” “Sleep with One Eye Open,” “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” and “If I Should Wander Back Tonight”), Jimmy Martin (“20/20 Vision” and “It Takes One to Know One”), and early Del McCoury (“Rain and Snow” and “Loneliness and Desperation). All of these have the requisite hard edge, but there is a softer side too, brought by the gentle tenors of both singers.

The duet singing on the Louvins’ “You’re Running Wild” is simply gorgeous, as is “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.” Frank Rodgers’ “Ookpik Waltz” is a masterstroke of instrumental taste and restraint from two pickers who can rip and run as hard as anyone, with Thile’s mandolin exhibiting the expressiveness of an expertly played grand piano.

The best bluegrass singing and playing is the kind that runs up to and shoves a shoulder into the limits inherent in the genre, and Thile and Daves do just that on a fully satisfying 50-minute effort.

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“Live at the Down Home” by NewFound Road


NewFound Road
Live At the Down Home
Rounder Records
4¾ stars (out of 5)

By Larry Stephens

Seeing a live performance where several of the songs on a new CD are performed gives you a different perspective of the music. The best performers will make mistakes in a live show that can be corrected in a recording but, on the other hand, weaknesses may be overlooked in the enthusiasm of a good performance. I recently saw these four young men live at Bean Blossom and, if they made any mistakes, I didn’t hear them. Their performance was strong and won many new fans including my wife, who is more of a bluegrass liker than bluegrass lover. I made my way to their record table to buy my copy of their new CD, Live At The Down Home as soon as their set ended.

The Down Home is a club in Johnson City, Tennessee which is the heart of bluegrass country. As the title says, this was recorded live and they had another enthusiastic audience there. The band has morphed from a gospel band into a bluegrass band and has a stong lineup of musicians. Founder Tim Shelton, who plays guitar and sings lead, is an excellent bluegrass singer who listened to a variety of music growing up and the song selection for this CD reflects that. Brothers Joe (mandolin, harmony) and Jamey (bass, harmony) Booher and Josh Miller on banjo, lead guitar, lead and harmony vehicles (and dancing – you have to be there) complete the roster. They are excellent musicians and singers who stay engaged with the audience and put on a show, not just standing in front of a microphone and singing. They are joined on the CD by guest Jim VanCleve (Mountain Heart). One interesting comparison I can make now is their sound with and without the fiddle. While it’s easy to understand why many bands limit their size to four members, and most others to no more than five (scarce financial resources), I do miss the extra richness of the fiddle in the live performance.

With a CD you can fix mistakes made in recording and you can bring in guests, but you have a greater challenge attracting listeners (especially buying listeners) and holding their attention – which translates into buying future CDs and recommending your music to their friends. I’m obviously enthusiastic about them on stage, so how is the CD?

I love it. They went to a variety of sources but present them all in a way that keeps this a bluegrass CD. I don’t hear Lester Flatt singing all of them, but to my ear they make it work. Perhaps the farthest venture from traditional (like “Little Bessie”) bluegrass is Bill Wither’s hit from the early ’70′s, “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone.” I have to admit that, depending on the artist, I might be singing the”this ain’t no part of nothing” lament, but I like it and here’s the advantage of seeing them live: I’m sitting in an after-dark crowd of die-hard bluegrass fans at the granddaddy of bluegrass festivals and I’m hearing a wilder response than I did to a good number of very traditional bands (i.e., it’s not just me that likes this tune). The three minutes twenty seconds mandolin intro is a bit much, not just in length but in composition (someting more like Tony Rice would have done [and did at Bean Blossom] would have been better) but you have to remember this is being recorded live. If this was a studio album it might have been done differently.

What’s a good bluegrass CD without at least one killing song – bluegrass is full of them? “Blackadder’s Cove,” written and performed by Josh, is a good one full of betrayal, revenge and lifelong regret. For their instrumental they give a solid presentation of “Ruben.” (Earl Scruggs called it “Lonesome Ruben” when he composed it and, yes, it’s Ruben, not Reuben.)

They can do ballads, too. “That’s How I Got To Memphis” was written by Tom T. Hall and was a hit for Bobby Bare and Charlie Sizemore. A great song and a great rendition here. And bluegrass has plenty of rambling man songs. If you don’t have a few decades of rock-’n'-roll history you might never suspect “Please Come To Boston” was a 1974 hit for songwriter Dave Loggins and has been covered by country artists like Reba McEntire, Kenny Chesney and David Allan Coe. I like NewFound Road’s version as well as any and Tim’s voice puts the bluegrass stamp on their cut.

While they don’t have a gospel number on the CD, “Try To Be” (co-written by Sonya Isaacs) talks about the singer’s efforts to try to be the right kind of man. It’s a good, medium tempo song with lots of drive. Speaking of drive, people outside of bluegrass who sometimes mistake speed for drive should listen to “Room At The Top of the Strairs,” a Randall Hylton song about troubled love that moves along at only about ninety beats per minute but has drive to spare, and did I mention what a great bluegrass voice Tim Shelton has?

From Jackson Browne (“These Days”) to Carter Stanley (“Lonesome River”) to Tom T. Hall, they cover a lot of ground in this CD. Strict traditionalists may have a bone to pick at a spot or two but I’ll be playing it until it until it wears out and, judging from the crowd reaction I heard, so will a lot of other people.

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“Old Country Church” and “Lonesome and Blue” by Ralph Stanley

Ralph Stanley
Old Country Church (digital download only)
Rebel Records
4 stars (out of 5)

Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys
Lonesome and Blue (digital download only)
Rebel Records
3.5 stars (out of 5)

By Aaron Keith Harris

Old Country Church (1972) was Stanley’s second all-gospel release for Rebel Records, following closely on classic Cry from the Cross. While not quite as good as that classic of the genre, this project, newly reissued only in the digital download form, features one of Stanley’s best bands and is a great representation of his evolving sound in the years after brother Carter’s death ended tremendous creative run of The Stanley Brothers.

With Roy Lee Centers on guitar and lead vocals, Curly Ray Cline on fiddle, Keith Whitley on lead guitar, Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and Jack Cooke on bass, this was surely one of Ralph’s best incarnations of the Clinch Mountain Boys. The only quibble is that Whitley and Skaggs do not feature vocally on this effort, content to contribute bouncing George Shuffler-style lead guitar and clean, Monroe-style mandolin, respectively.

Instead, most of the vocal duties fall to Centers, whose sonic resemblance to Carter Stanley is almost spooky. “Old Country Church” opens the album with Centers and Stanley belting out that classic brother band sound, which continues with “My Lord’s Been A-Walking” and “I Hold a Clear Title,” a sadly little-remembered piece with a halting chorus that jumpstarts at the end.

The call-and-response of “Standing By the River” gives way to the echo-touched vocal of Centers on “10,000 Angels,” which in turn gives way to the album’s centerpiece, the five-minute-plus “Village Church Yard,” an a cappella arrangement in which Stanley “lines-out” each lyric before the rest of the quartet follows with it. This sort of thing was new to bluegrass at the time, and shows Stanley’s creative courage as he chose to reach back before Monroe for inspiration for his solo material.

The upbeat spiritual “Honey in the Rock” and the thoughtful “Give Me the Roses While I Live” are two more Centers leads, with Stanley retaking the vocal helm on “Green Pastures in the Sky,” a retelling of the 23rd Psalm accompanied by high fiddles and loping guitar, and “These Men of God,” a hybrid between the Monroe and Stanley styles of gospel quartet arrangement.

Centers is back with “Hide Me Rock of Ages,” then the 12-track, 34-minute album closes with “When I Get Home,” another stunning a cappella.

Lonesome and Blue is Stanley’s 1987 release, a secular bluegrass album again featuring stalwarts Cline and Cook, and with Junior Blankenship on lead guitar and Charlie Sizemore on guitar and lead vocals.

Stanley’s vocal presence is much greater on this album, and his voice is more textured than in his glory days, which makes for an distinctly different feel throughout. Sizemore’s vocals are as mournful and brother Carter and Centers, but they are a little more modern.

Many of the album’s best moments are when these two rich voices kick off a song in duet fashion, such as on “Lonesome and Blue,” which contains the great line “I never rode a boxcar / Until she turned me down,” “Wicked Wine,” a sequel to the Stanley classic “Little Glass of Wine,” “Who’s in You Heart,” the sweetly lilting “Somebody Loves You Darlin’,” and “So Blue,” which borrows its arrangement from the Stanleys’ cover of Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”

Ralph also takes the lead on a straightforward take on “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and the nonsense clawhammer song “True Blue Bill,” but his best vocal performances are on the steamy “It’s a Hot Night in August,” the simmering “Room at the Top of the Stairs” and the sheriff-shooting “Old Richmond Prison.”

With 12 tracks clocking in at almost 28 minutes, Lonesome and Blue is a fast, crisp look at an artist in his mature prime.

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The Lonesome Road Review – Top 11 Bluegrass CDs of 2010

We’ve heard and reviewed lots of great bluegrass in 2010 here at LRR. Here are the 11 best:

1. The SteelDrivers—Reckless (Rounder)

2. Steve Gulley & Tim Stafford—Dogwood Winter (Rural Rhythm)

3. Dailey & Vincent—Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Presents: Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers (Rounder)

4. Balsam Range—Trains I Missed (Mountain Home/Crossroads)

5. The Boxcars—The Boxcars (Mountain Home/Crossroads)

6. The Darrell Webb Band—Bloodlines (Rural Rhythm)

7. Paul Williams—Just a Little Closer Home (Rebel)

8. The Infamous Stringdusters—Things That Fly (Sugar Hill)

9. The Grascals—The Famous Lefty Flynn’s (Rounder)

10. Don Rigsby & Midnight Call—The Voice of God (Rebel)

11. Chatham County Line—Wildwood (Yep Roc)

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“Letters in the Deep” by Cadillac Sky

Cadillac Sky
Letters in the Deep
Dualtone Music
2.5 stars (out of 5)

The liner notes to Letters in the Deep state that “all songs on this album were recorded live in the studio with minimal overdubs to obtain the sound and feel of old time bluegrass music.” Let it be said that there’s nothing here, besides the choice of instruments, that resembles any sort of bluegrass music, much less the vintage variety—not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Indeed, with the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach producing and the dazzling musicianship, unusually soulful singing and compelling original songs of Cadillac Sky’s two previous efforts (2007’s Blind Man Walking and 2008’s Gravity’s Our Enemy, both on Skaggs Family Records), I was expecting a freewheeling, ambitious, sprawling acoustic rock album and I expected to like it very much. Despite repeated open-minded listening, I only got half my wish.

The musicianship is still dazzling, and the songs are nothing if not original (though not as strong as on the two previous records), but this five-piece powerhouse forgot or chose to ignore the artistic maxim that less is more, that a great work of art is often distinguished by what’s not there in the final product. Instead, the musical choices on Letters in the Deep always add that little extra touch that distracts from the good material that is here. Lead vocals from Bryan Simpson and David Mayfield are buried in an echoey wash, and there’s a dissonant mellotron, harmonium or melodica lurking around every corner.

A cut called “Trash Bag” is, ironically, the album’s most beautiful moment, with it’s recurring Brain Wilson-esque chorus, but its sense of unity is not replicated elsewhere. The “everything but the kitchen sink” approach can work on an album—think of Wilson’s best work, Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde or The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St.—but the boys from Cadillac Sky, while still the most promising acoustic unit around, weren’t up to the challenge they set for themselves here.

by Aaron Keith Harris

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“One and All” by Pieta Brown

Pieta Brown
One and All
Red House Records
4 stars (out of 5)

Recorded quickly and mostly live in the studio, Pieta Brown’s latest album is also her most expansive.

A mid-western Gauthier housing the heart of a dust-road philosopher, Brown writes and sings of human frailties and fragilities with forthright simplicity that disguises the visionary and lyrical approach to her craft.

As on previous albums and EPs, Brown’s observations are compelling in their blending of words and instrumentation. While one may follow the flowing narratives of her songs, one needn’t. No matter what she is singing, the sound of her voice is utilized like an instrument to complement her musicians.

Lyrically, Brown isn’t afraid of minimalism. “Prayer of roses, petals and thorns, and the heat on my skin now where my shirt is torn,” reveals openness to the pains accompanying commitment. In “Faller” Brown identifies “a crowd of people” in the face of a stranger and recalls that “there are no words inside the rain.”

“El Guero”, the centerpiece to her previous release Shimmer, is reinterpreted as a ballsy rocker that wouldn’t be out of place on a Sheryl Crow album. “Grass Among the Hills” quietly and succinctly identifies the mystery of modern times conflicting with timeless traditions where “future shock can’t hold a candle to the dove.”

One and All is that rare album that can truly overwhelm the listener, causing one to forget everything going on around them.

With stream of consciousness poetry embracing pop-art simplicity, Brown has crafted a dynamic album that succeeds on all levels.

Anchored by co-producer Bo Ramsay, Brown is further complemented by Jon Penner (bass), Brian Wilkie (pedal steel), Joey Burns (cello and accordion), and non-dueling, simpatico drummers J.T. Bates and Steve Hayes.

Having lived with the disc for several weeks, I can attest that the dreamlike qualities of One and All continually take me to places I can’t remember.

by Donald Teplyske

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“Light on My Feet, Ready to Fly” by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Light on My Feet, Ready to Fly
Horizon Records
4 stars (out of 5)

“Teddy Bear Revival” is just the sort of track that shows how great Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver can be. The song is about a boy pretending to be an evangelist with his toys serving as a congregation. I can’t imagine such song working for any bluegrass band but Lawson’s, whose unquestionable sincerity brings off the song with just the right amount of sweetness and none of the overwrought sentimentality others would likely add.

The lively “Mountain View Missionary Baptist Church” and the bittersweet “He Will Remember Me,” a tale of love and faith ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease, are also highly listenable tracks instead of cloying novelties thanks to Lawson and company’s professionalism.

Part of that professionalism has been the quality musicians that Lawson recruits to Quicksilver before they, seemingly invariably, set out on other highly successful ventures. The current lineup is no disappointment, with youngsters Corey Hensley (who wrote the title track and “The Hammer of Sin”) on guitar, Josh Swift on Dobro, Jason Barie on fiddle and Jason Leek on bass. Quicksilver veteran Dale Perry is back on banjo and bass vocals.

The unit distinguishes itself instrumentally on the title track and on Carl Story’s “It’s a Mighty Hard Road to Travel,” while achieving harmonic excellence on a cappella numbers “My Lord’s Gonna Move this Wicked Race” and the album closing “Zion Medley.”

Throughout the 11-track, 38-minute all-gospel disc, Lawson’s genteel vocals and smooth, clean mandolin are pleasant assertions that bluegrass music’s best bandleader is still at his peak.

by Aaron Keith Harris

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“Memories of John” by The John Hartford Stringband

The John Hartford Stringband
Memories of John
Red Clay Records/Compass Records
4 stars (out of 5)

Had John Hartford done nothing but write “Gentle on My Mind” and bring the banjo to national attention on the The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and The Johnny Cash show in the late 1960s and early 1970s, his service to bluegrass and old-time music would have been immense. But, given the financial freedom that comes with having penned a megahit song, he spent a long, fruitful career in acoustic music that dipped deep into the past while looking far into the future.

Of his extensive list of recordings, this, though a tribute album made by his close musical associates, can be considered his final album, as his presence permeates it both figuratively and literally. (Hartford also participated in another tribute album recorded live a few months before his 2001 death.)

Chris Sharp (guitar), Bob Carlin (banjo), Matt Combs (fiddle), Mike Compton (mandolin) and Mark Schatz (bass), who comprised Hartford’s band for his last five Rounder recordings and for live gigs during the last few years of his life, are the house band here, choosing a mix of Hartford favorites and a couple of songs—”Madison, Tennessee” and “She’s Gone (And Bob’s Gone with Her)”—that Hartford wrote but never recorded.

The results of a quick recording session, the Stringband tracks are perfect realizations of the Hartford sound, and guest vocals from Tim O’Brien (“M.I.S.I.P.” and “Lorena”) and Alan O’Bryant (“Delta Queen Waltz”) are moving without being mawkish. Bela Fleck, George Buckner and Alison Brown also guest on individual tracks with their interpretations of Hartford’s banjo style.

The biggest treats here are two short demos recorded by Hartford in the 1960s: the lighthearted “You Don’t Notice Me Ignoring You” and the album’s fitting closer, a gentle, sweet, wordless, whistling tune called “Fade Out.”

Memories of John, depending on your exposure to his music, can serve as either an introduction to Hartford’s tremendous body of work or a capstone for his career. Either way, it’s great listening.

by Aaron Keith Harris