Blogcritics Category: Music: Bluegrass

Music Review: The Steeldrivers - The Steeldrivers

John Taylor — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:51:08 EST

Unique sound makes bluegrass 'newgrass'
Bluegrass is one of those musical forms – like blues – that seems pretty much perfect as is, and most artists are content to work within the tradition rather than shaking it up. But all that tradition can start to sound the same if one’s not initiated in the intricacies that establish individuality and render different approaches...

Music Review: Sierra Hull - Secrets

John Taylor — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:03:05 EST

A wonderful debut from an artist with astonishing promise!
The music industry is constantly on the lookout for the next youthful prodigy, the fresh face that offers a tired genre new hope. And while bluegrass is unlikely to usurp rap and pop music as the nation’s preferred form of aural escapism, Sierra Hull – all of sixteen upon the release of her debut disc – may well represent a...

Music Review: Tony Trischka - Hill Country

El Bicho — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:53:06 EST

Visit "Hill Country." You'll be glad you did.
Rounder Records has reissued the long out-of-print album, Hill Country, which now, through a bit of technological time-shifting, is oddly the follow-up to 2007’s Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular. Originally released in 1985, the album was a departure for Trischka, who admitted in the liner notes to being “a modern, or avant-garde,...

Retro Redux: How Grandma Found Her Christmas Groove

Big Geez — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 09:12:29 EST

Memorable holiday experiences can appear in unusual ways.
The music of ukulele wizard Jake Shimabukuro might seem to be an unusual starting point for a piece about memories of Christmas. But when that tune is something called "Grandma's Groove," it inevitably makes me remember my own grandmothers — and how they each found their holiday groove in different ways. My maternal grandmother...

Music Review: Charlie Louvin - Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs

Eric Whelchel — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 09:28:43 EST

Charlie Louvin explores the darker side of traditional American music
Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs is the second release in 2008 from the grizzled music veteran. Earlier this year Louvin got godly on Steps to Heaven, a strong collection of gospel songs that also included a sometimes-overzealous set of background singers. Showing a definite Christian religious conviction without being...

Music Review: Cody Shuler & Pine Mountain Railroad - Pickin', Praisin' & Singin': Hymns from the Mountain

Jennifer Bogart — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:54:53 EST

Tight harmonies and frenetic fiddling will mark this album an all time gospel favourite.
Accomplished bluegrass ensemble Pine Mountain Railroad’s latest album is devoted to songs celebrating and declaring the gospel. Their five-man band (with supplements) of multi-talented, accomplished musicians covers a great deal of territory in this release. Roaming from fiery calls to repentance to aching songs of longing for heaven the...

An Appreciation Of The Songwriting And Music Of John Arthur Martinez

Dan Schneider — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:50:45 EDT

An under appreciated musical artist gets a bit of due.
Recently, my wife and I spent a night at a local resort called the Canyon Of The Eagles, northwest of Burnet, Texas. As it was a week before Halloween, things were decked out in orange and black, and faux spider webs abounded. On out first evening there, after we returned from eating in Burnet, at about 7:45 pm, we saw that there was to be a...

Music Review: Blue Mountain, Midnight in Mississippi and Omnibus

Nik Dirga — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 08:40:16 EDT

The spunky underdogs of alt-country return from hiatus with two new albums of good-time rock 'n' roll.
All right, I'll just get this out of the way -- I can't quite be an objective reviewer about Blue Mountain. They were the soundtrack of my college years back in Oxford, Mississippi -- a local alt-country band who were by far the best local band around and one of the best in the American South during the mid-1990s. Frontman Cary Hudson had a...

Music Review: Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006

El Bicho — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:10:30 EDT

This is Dylan at his best: an artist trying out different ideas, proving it�s the journey not the destination.
Volume 8 in Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series, Tell Tale Signs offers an amazing collection of songs from the latter third of his legendary career, covering the years 1989 through 2006. The two-CD version presents 27 songs in the forms of alternate versions, demos, concert performances, and previously unreleased material. The majority comes from...

Music Review: The Whispertown 2000 - Swim

Sarah C. Culver — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:18:36 EDT

With the release of Swim indie folk gains a definitive new influence in The Whispertown 2000 and Acony Records.
In terms of folk music, if Gillian Welch is the heartland, and her new record label, Acony, is a littoral jumping off point then into the uncharted waters plunge The Whispertown 2000, the first outside band signed and launched from Acony. And far from sinking, they Swim. Headed up by founder and lead singer Morgan Nagler, The Whispertown 2000...