Bearfoot
Follow Me
Glacier Records
4 stars (out of 5)
When Back Home was released five years ago, this Alaskan quintet was known as Bearfoot Bluegrass, precocious youngsters performing bluegrass at band camps and festivals.
While youthful, the group has maintained a consistent lineup while spreading across the continent in pursuit of higher education and life experience. Follow Me is [...]
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Crooked Still
Still Crooked
Signature Sounds
4.5 stars (out of 5)
From the opening seconds of Ola Belle Reed’s timeless “Undone in Sorrow,” listeners sense they are in for a treat with Crooked Still’s third album. The promise is fulfilled in each of the album’s 44 minutes.
Crooked Still’s story is well known. As part of the emerging young [...]
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Chris Vallillo
Abraham Lincoln in Song
Gin Ridge Music
4 stars (out of 5)
An album of old-time folk music from and inspired by the times of Lincoln; now there’s a commercial bonanza just a-waitin’! Fortunately, folk singers don’t worry about such matters.
Recently endorsed by the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Illinois songwriter and musician Chris Vallillo celebrates on his fifth [...]
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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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Dave Evans & River Bend
The Best of the Vetco Years
Rebel Records
3.5 stars (out of 5)
Outside of James King, Dave Evans is likely the most expressive singer in bluegrass. His Rebel recordings for the past many years are some of the most cherished and frequently played within my collection. He has never released a less than [...]
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