Sarah White
Sweetheart
Self-released
4 stars (out of 5)
Charlottesville’s Sarah White has something that guarantees, even on a five-song EP, a satisfying listen: a strong voice that doesn’t sound like anyone else. And contrary to the name of the title track “Sweetheart,” White’s voice isn’t sugary at all, but open and pain-filled.
On “Ply Me” that voice is sly [...]
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Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947
Skaggs Family Records
4 stars (out of 5)
Since his return to bluegrass music with 1997’s Bluegrass Rules!, Ricky Skaggs has been careful to credit the legacy of Bill Monroe as the prime reason for his musical rebirth. Skaggs’ devotion has included a full-length [...]
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Ann & Phil Case
The Old Step-Stone: A Collection of Old-Time Duets
Dry Run Recordings
4 stars (out of 5)
The Old Step-Stone is the fourth full-length recorded example why Southwest Ohio’s Ann & Phil Case are one of the very best old-time duos working today.
Ann plays a 1929 Martin 0-21 guitar and a handmade 1903 Audinot copy fiddle; [...]
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Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers
Tuned In
Self-released
3.5 stars (out of 5)
Many remember Joe Mullins for his world-class banjo and tenor vocal work with the Traditional Grass and with Longview.
Not everyone knows that for the last several years, Joe has been making his living with his growing Classic Country Radio enterprise in southwest Ohio, with AM [...]
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Dailey & Vincent
Dailey & Vincent
Rounder Records
4.5 stars (out of 5)
Dailey & Vincent signal exactly what they’re all about by kicking off their debut CD with “Sweet Carrie.” Joe Dean’s banjo accelerates into Jamie Dailey’s clear, high and powerful lead vocals, which in turn are joined by flawless harmony vocals from bassist Darrin Vincent and mandolinist [...]
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Van Morrison
Keep it Simple
Lost Highway Records
4 stars (out of 5)
More than any other artist, Van Morrison can make feeling the full weight of your humanity bearable by taking the worst things about being human and turn them into music that is joyfully, cathartically ecstatic.
But since 1997’s The Healing Game Van has seemed less interested in [...]
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Longview
Deep in the Mountains
Rounder Records
3.5 stars (out of 5)
Comprised of six of bluegrass music’s premier singers — James King, Don Rigsby, Lou Reid — and instrumentalists — Marshall Wilborn, Ron Stewart, and J. D. Crowe — the current lineup of Longview makes their recording debut with a neat and concise twelve-track disc that showcases the [...]
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The SteelDrivers
The SteelDrivers
Rounder Records
4 stars (out of 5)
Pressing play on The SteelDrivers for the first time while looking at the title of the first track (”Blue Side of the Mountain”), one would expect to hear more of the same old thing. Especially from a bunch of session players making a side project out of pickin [...]
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Steve Gulley
Sounds Like Home
Lonesome Day Records
4 stars (out of 5)
Grrasstowne
The Road Headin’ Home
Pinecastle Records
3.5 stars (out of 5)
The general impermanence of band line-ups in bluegrass is often frustrating for fans, and no doubt to the musicians themselves. But the byproduct is often the welcome launch of a new band or solo artist.
Or in Steve Gulley’s [...]
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Ricky Skaggs & The Whites
Salt of the Earth
Skaggs Family Records
4 stars (out of 5)
A gospel album by Ricky Skaggs & The Whites ought to be mighty good, and Salt of the Earth is just that.
Each of the the 13 tracks is a setting for Skaggs’ clean, crisp Kentucky tenor and The Whites’ lush family harmonies, [...]
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