When you’re someone who listens to as much bluegrass as I do, it takes a really impressive musical moment to truly surprise you. That happened to me when I found out about Special Consensus’s new album, Chicago Barn Dance, while … Read More
Having flipped out for High Fidelity after seeing them at the Joe Val Festival in Framingham Mass. in 2019, I was eager to review their new CD Banjo Player’s Blues. At Joe Val I felt they were the most exciting … Read More
Here is why you should buy Nate Lee’s first full-length solo CD, Wings of a Jetliner, as soon as it is released on June 12: This is an excellent, quite musical recording by a very talented player and singer, with … Read More
Bees in the Barn is an acoustic quartet based in Beacon, NY, consisting of nationally and internationally active and accomplished musicians working across numerous genres including musical theater, jazz, classical, international folk music, and progressive bluegrass. All these influences are … Read More
Della Mae’s recent album, Headlight, their first full-length release in over five years (though they did release the highly regarded EP Butcher Shoppe last year), finds the band breaking bluegrass tradition and exploring new areas both lyrically and musically in … Read More
Bluegrass of course started with Bill Monroe’s “high, lonesome sound” of Kentucky, but for those of you following modern bluegrass the scene has grown much bigger than that, and you might be more than a little familiar with the sounds … Read More
It’s been a long time since the Steeldrivers’ last album, coming up on five years, along with another change of lead singers. There’s quite the story to go along with that, but I’ll start by saying that there are very … Read More
It’s Saturday, March 28, 2020, as I look out at the empty street. New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo gives an update on the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. We are bombarded with hourly updates on a local, national and global scale. I … Read More
First things first, the title of this live album; “Let’s All Do Some Living” is borrowed from the Rolling Stones song “Wild Horses” (which is beautifully covered on track 8). The title alone captures the band’s love of playing live, … Read More
Although billed as “bluegrass” by his record label Joe Hott is much bigger than that; bluegrass, country, old-time, folk, and Americana all seem to cross in his sound. “Traditional” sums it up as much as anything, though it sounds a … Read More