Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey - CD Review

In the first paragraph of the over forty page liner notes booklet accompanying Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey, on Smithsonian Folkways curated and produced by Akira Otsuka, he writes, “In the mid-1960s when I was learning to play mandolin in Japan, one artist really stood out for me—John Duffey of the Country Gentlemen. He had an amazing tenor voice and unique style of mandolin playing. I tried to copy his breaks note for note—he was my idol.” This opening characterizes both the liner notes and, even more important, the content of the marvelous CD he has made, a labor of love for the past fifteen years. It’s tempting to quote extensively from the history of Akira’s relationship with John Duffey, the legendary tenor singer and mandolin player for both The Country Gentlemen and The Seldom Scene, but I’ll leave it to you to fill in the details. Suffice it to say that reading and studying the liner notes can only serve to increase the pleasure of the wonderful songs selected for this recording, sung by some of today’s most prominent bluegrass musicians.

Written by Akira, veteran D.C. deejay Katy Daley, Seldom Scene stalwart Dudley Connell with Track Notes by Jeff Place, the liner notes are worth the modest price of the CD or the digital download ( https://amzn.to/2KdK7pB) and can be downloaded. For collectors, this is a “must buy.” Akira, who first arrived in the U.S. in 1971 for a U.S. tour with the Japanese bluegrass band Bluegrass 45 was brought here by Dick Freeland of Rebel Records. The recording, begun as a project of Ronnie Freeland, Dick's son, and Akira in a hotel room in Owensboro, KY., contains seventeen songs notably connected to John Duffey. All told, fifty-three musicians contributed to the recordings over a many years’ period. For those of us who never met or heard John Duffey live, Katy Daly’s profile is a revealing masterpiece. For instance, Daly comments on Duffey’s onstage demeanor, “Equally influential on John’s onstage persona was Johnny Carson of The Tonight Show. Duffey studied Carson’s monologues, quips, and emcee work and then made them his own. His humor was aimed at the urban audiences that came to their shows. It was current and over-the-top.” Along with Dudley Connell’s essay on his own joining the band and relationship with Duffey, the liner notes provide historical context to bluegrass in the Washington, D.C. area as well as the growth and development of bluegrass music more generally.

John Duffey (1934 – 1996) was one of the most influential musicians in the development of bluegrass from a regional variant of country music to an increasingly urban and urbane sound relying with increasing emphasis on folk music from the folk revival of the sixties and seventies along with jazz and rock & roll music. As the founder of two of contemporary bluegrass’ seminal groups, The Country Gentlemen and The Seldom Scene, and as a dynamic, witty personality with a distinctive voice and personal style, Duffey’s continuing influence on the popularity and development of the genre and it’s broad appeal cannot be overestimated. With a vocal range of over four octaves and a seemingly unhinged sense of humor, echoes of his voice are found throughout the genre. Now bluegrass standards, many of the songs he introduced to bluegrass were revolutionary at the time. He wrote “Bringing Mary Home,” and was associated with songs like “Hickory Wind,” and many others. He helped bring the music of Bob Dylan into bluegrass.

Here’s a version of “Wait a Minute” with Duffey singing during the Phil Rosenthal period, probably sometime in the late seventies to mid-eighties.

Recorded and assembled over a period of fifteen years, Epilogue smoothly brings together many musicians from early Country Gentlemen and Seldom Scene aggregations, combining them with some of the finest voices of bluegrass of the twenty-first century in seamless and wondrous combinations. The CD features, for instance, Randy Waller, son of Country Gents great singer Charley Waller, with current Seldom Scene tenor Lou Reid on “Sad and Lonesome Day.” Amanda Smith, Jonathan Edwards, Dudley Connell, Sam Bush, James King, John Cowan and more. Fifty-three musicians in all, appear on the present recording, all singing songs closely associated with John Duffey. The recording values are evocative and stunningly inventive in their tribute to John Duffey, his singing and his instrumental work. Sadly, it’s not possible to represent his iconoclastic stage personality and electric presence.

Here’s another clip recorded at a festival in Louisville, KY in the md-eighties that captures some of his virtuosity as well as the stage presence that captured the imaginations of so many, including Akira Otsuka.

Akira Otsuka

Akira Otsuka, the creator and producer of this fine tribute to John Duffey, was associated with him from their first meeting in Dick Freeland's living room, at festivals, through tours to Japan, collecting and preserving John Duffey’s mandolins and, now, his music. Here’s an interview recorded with Tara Linhardt which gives further insight into both Duffey and their relationship, in which he serves as Duffey’s Boswell.

Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey is a labor of love and admiration assembled and produced over a period of fifteen years. It also represents a picture of the movement from the mountains to the suburbs as rural and mountain people moved from the hills to the mills to the cities and suburbs following new opportunities due to the industrialization of farming along with the rise of digital technology and big government. The Baltimore – Washington axis arose and the composition of The Seldom Scene represented the change: a physician, a cartographer, a mathematician jamming in the basement and avoiding travel because of their other commitments. Now, the spirit of John Duffey, through the recreation of songs he’s noted for singing, lives on in this recording, while the originals can be heard in online streaming services and seen on YouTube. As Akira said, ““It’s hard to believe John Duffey left us more than two decades ago now and that there is a whole generation of Bluegrass fans and artists who never saw John perform. If this tribute album causes those young people to turn on YouTube and listen to John, I would say my mission has been successfully completed. On the other hand, for an older generation member like me, it’s sweet to stroll down memory lane with John.”

John Duffey's Mandolin - The Duck

David Davis & the Warrior River Boys - Didn't He Ramble - CD Review

David Davis and the Warrior River Boys have released Didn’t He Ramble: Songs of Charlie Poole (Rounder Records, 2018, $11.99/9;49), a recording of fourteen classic Poole songs from pre-bluegrass era of the 1920’s when Poole became one the earliest country musicians to travel to New York, record, and begin the popularization of music hitherto only known to very few. Poole first recorded in New York in 1925 for Columbia Records, scoring a hit with “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down,” which sold 106,000 copies at a time when it was estimated there were only 6000 phonographs in the southern U.S. With his band, the North Carolina Ramblers, Poole recorded sixty songs for Columbia. He died of a heart attack, probably aggravated by his long relationship to alcohol, in 1931.

 Charlie Poole

David Davis

David Davis, long a well-regarded disciple of Bill Monroe’s music, with a deep family and personal connection to traditional bluegrass music, has, in Didn’t He Ramble: The Songs of Chalie Poole, moved further back in time to consider one of the most important antecedents to bluegrass music. In choosing Charlie Poole as the content of his current Rounder Records title, Davis has selected a seminal creator of traditional music, noted as an important precursor of the development of the banjo, and as one of earliest traditional mountain music performers to record widely, bringing his music to new audiences while taking it out of the confines of Appalachia.

In Linthead Stomp, Patrick Huber considers the role of four seminal musicians in the movement of mountain music to mills in the southern Piedmont on the music’s journey to the recording studio, first in Bristol under the leadership of Ralph Peer, and then to New York where southern authenticity mixed with Tin Pan Alley commercialism to create a music industry requiring genres for its distribution. Poole’s recording predated Peer’s famous 1927 recordings known as the Bristol Sessions, recorded on a trip to Brisol, TN.

Sammy Shelor, winner of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, told us the story one evening when we were camped near his home in Meadows of Dan, VA, about his direct relationship to Charlie Poole. He said his grandfather had owned a flour mill and “where there was a mill, there was a still. Where there was a still, there was Charlie Poole.” Poole, who died way too early of advanced alchoholism, taught Shelor’s grandfather to play the banjo. His influence on the development of modern banjo is pervasive. Here’s a recording of Poole singing Ramblin’ Blues.

In Didn’t He Ramble, Davis has brought the music of Charlie Poole into the twenty-first century, while staying firmly anchored in the 1920’s of Poole’s music and in traditional bluegrass representations of earlier musical sounds and styles. Davis’ singing is modern in its natural tone and relaxed feeling. His mix and the musical styles capture Poole’s older sound in the fresh clothing of contemporary skills and play, with traditional bluegrass licks like, for instance, the band's frequent use of the hoary but effective G-run attributed to Lester Flatt. The music, then, is an interpretation rather than an imitation of Poole’s music, which always deserves to be highlighted for anyone interested in the progress of bluegrass and country music from its earliest days to today’s outpourings of string band music with continually developing changes while often finding ways to bow to the pioneers who struggled to bring their music to a wider audience. In this tradition, David Davis’s contribution to keeping the music of Charlie Poole alive for a new generation is more than welcome, as is Rounder Records’ willingness to continue to focus on the roots, as it always has, of the music we hear in the music we love. This is Davis’ fourth recording under the Rounder label.

Davis comes from a long line of traditional musicians in northern Alabama. His uncle, Cleo Davis was a member of the first edition of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. The Warrior River Boys, begun in 1960 by Garry Thurmond, were turned over to Davis’ leadership in 1984. The current band includes Robert Montgomery, who served as co-producer of the current recording, on banjo. Other members are: Marty Hays on bass, Stan Wilmon on guitar, and Phillip James on fiddle. Here’s a video of David Davis & the Warrior River Boys playing Ramblin’ Blues.

David Davis and the Warrior River Boys recording of Didn’t He Ramble: Songs of Charlie Poole (Rounder Records, 2018, $11.99/9.49) arrives at a time of transition in the history of bluegrass music, as technology, both recording and distribution, have become increasingly diverse, which demands attention to the music’s deep traditions and recognition of its changing nature. Rounder Records, throughout its long history, has achieved both goals. The current recording, beautifully recorded by Gary Gordon at Inside Out Studio in Sparta, Illinois, is filled with tunes, many of which have been part of the bluegrass repertoire for fifty or more years, but will find new ears and hearts in this recording.

Brotherhood by the Gibson Brothers - Review

These days there's a heavy emphasis on combining the role of singer and songwriter. Performers are urged to write original material and record it themselves. This has the advantage for them in that they can maintain two revenue streams as both the singer and the song writer. But it hasn't always been so. During the twenties and long into the heyday of many of the brother duos who recorded these wonderful songs, there were plenty of men and women making a living as song writers, plugging their material to publishers and record producers on Tin Pan Alley, in the Brill Building, in Nashville, and in Hollywood. The downside of the current practice is that many fewer songs are covered by several artists. Fewer opportunities exist for performers to interpret and reinterpret the work of others, because of the nature of the industry. In Brotherhood, the Gibson Brothers, known for both their great writing and beautiful singing, have turned current practice on its head, selecting the work of well known brother duos from the twenties to near contemporary days, giving each song their own spin and the touch and sound that those who know them will immediately recognize as The Gibson Brothers, no matter who has previously recorded the song, familiar or not.

The Everly Brothers

Since this album features singers rather than song writers, it's quite interesting that Eric and Leigh have chosen three strongly contrasting songs by the Everly Brothers, perhaps the seminal brother duo of the fifties and sixties in the move through country and folk music into rockabilly and rock 'n' roll. They are members of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's interesting, though, that Crying in the Rain, was written expressly for the Everly Brothers by Carole King, a hugely important writer in the move towards dominance by singer/songwriters,. The Gibson Brothers have had much success, too, in bridging the gap between country, rock, and bluegrass, finding seams between the genres where their sound and sensibility fit and prove pleasing. The Gibson's don't encounter chair clappers saying “that's not bluegrass!” They add a quality to Long Time Gone which is absent in the saccharine quality of the Everlys, making it at once more contemporary and a little edgier, while maintaining the original intent of the song. Their Bye Bye Love almost channels the Everlys while still being their own. In it you can hear Sam Zuchini's light touch on drums with Clayton Campbell's bell clear yet understated fiddle right there. Jesse Brock, on mandolin contributes clean, restrained work, while the brothers play their now famous Henderson twin guitars. Their fully acoustic sound here stands them in good stead.

The Blue Sky Boys

While the liner notes for Eastbound Train say the Gibsons learned the song from Doc Watson, it's actually much older than that, first copyrighted in 1896 by James Thornton and Clara Hauenschild and later recorded by several people, including the Blue Sky Boys in 1940. The Blue Sky Boys were Bill and Earl Bollick, most active during the depression era and retired in 1951 only to record a couple of albums for Starday in the sixties and a Rounder recording in 1974. When I hear this song, I can't help seeing Mary Pickford looking winsomely up from her seat at the kindly conductor, a portly man with a watch fob stretched across his belly listening to her sad tale in a black and white silent melodrama with elaborate scrolled titles. The Gibsons capture the pathos of the moment perfectly. In The Sweetest Gift, A Mother's Smile, Jesse Brock's mellow, sweet mandolin kickoff sets the tone for the entire song. Previously recorded by The Blue Sky Boys and (according to Eric's Journal on the origins of these songs, the Bailey Brothers & the Happy Valley Boys, too) the song risks falling into pathos, but is rescued by its pure beauty and rendition.

The Church Brothers & their Blue Ridge Ramblers

with song writer Drusilla Adams

An Angel with Blue Eyes is a straight bluegrass song with an upbeat tempo first recorded by the Church Brothers, active in the area around Wilkesboro, NC during the 1950's who would have been lost to posterity had not Ken Irwin of Rounder Records taken an active interest in them, suggesting the Gibson Brothers take a look at their work. The original can be found on You Tube in an album called “Authentic Rare Bluegrass Vol. 1” released in 2013. The song was written by Bill Church & Drusilla Adams Smith. It provides Eric with the opportunity to play one of longest banjo solos in the album. As often happens in bluegrass songs, the angel has departed for another world, and the sound and feel of the song is reminiscent of a Bill Monroe “true story” song.

The Gibson Brothers at Gettysburg

Photo by Frank Baker

The Osborne Brothers

For two men who come from the furthest reaches of northern New York, within only a couple of miles of the Canadian border, the changes in seasons carry real resonance, as does Each Season Changes You, a song sung by the Osborne Brothers during the height of their prominence from the fifties to near the end of the twentieth century. According to Wikipedia, they were known “for their virtuosic instrumentation and tight, melodic vocal harmonies.” Sound familiar? As a recording band, they were most prominent from the sixties to the early 80's. The Osborne's recorded the song in the fall of 1960 The Gibson Brothers asked Ronnie Reno (who once played in the Osborne Brothers band) to give them a hand with the Osborne high harmonies on this cut.

The Louvin Brothers

After listening to versions of I Have Found the Way by both the Monroe Brothers and the Louvin Brothers, Eric and Leigh decided to pick up the tempo and cut out most of instrumentation found in the other versions, limiting it to Jesse Brock's wonderful work on the mandolin and their own guitars. As in many other gospel songs, they continue the tradition of singing the lyrics in a call and response style that weaves around the song, coming together at the end of each chorus. When Bill Monroe recorded this song in 1936 (?) he was very much in search of a signature sound. The Louvin Brothers' version is much nearer what the Gibsons sound like, but the clarity and vision of the Gibsons recreates the song.

Eric & Leigh Gibson

Photo by Irene Lehmann

The Louvin Brothers are the brother duo with whom the Gibson Brothers are most often compared. From the stage they often credit the Louvins as major influences on their singing. I'm Troubled, I'm Troubled, like so many storied bluegrass songs takes on topics which, in fact, out to be troubling and presents them in a bouncy, happy way. “If trouble don't kill me, I'll live a long time.” Seven Year Blues, on the other hand, carries the loss of a lover to considerable, almost laughable extremes as the singer continues to carry a torch.

The Stanley Brothers

The Stanley Brothers well-known version of How Mountain Girls Can Love is a staple around the jam circle, always played the way Ralph and Carter played it, at breakneck speed. The Gibson Brothers have recreated it into waltz time and slowed it down, allowing listeners to savor it. What a wonderful reinterpretation of this song that every jammer knows!

Tompall & the Glaser Brothers

Tompall (Glaser) & the Glaser Brothers were an extremely popular and innovative country trio who were at the height of their popularity in the fifties after they were discovered on Arthur Godfrey's talent scouts and sixties when they were inducted into the Grand Old Opry. They were among the first artists to publish their own material, including John Hartford's Gentle on My Mind. Russ Purl plays pedal steel guitar on this cut with Sam Zuchini on drums. A love song, It'll Be Her, has a light, romantic tone to it with a sense that the girl can provide the answer, “she's every woman I have ever known rolled up in one....” Who wouldn't sing about her? Listening to Tompall singing a lead slightly reminiscent of Waylon Jennings with an insistent driving beat behind the song provides a sharp contrast to the Gibson Brothers close and almost worshipful adoration of her. The song retains a strong country spirit through the use of tasteful drums and pedal steel.

The Brewster Brothers

In addition to being sung by The Brewster Brothers, What a Wonderful Savior He Is has been recorded by Larry Sparks and Carl Story, among others. The Brewster Brothers were active in the Knoxville music scene during the fifties, and also recorded with other brother duos like the Webster Brothers and the Bailey Brothers to form gospel quartets. They also recorded with Carl Story. One of the joys of Leigh's lead singing here is the simplicity and clarity of his voice. There's no ornamentation or fanciness to be found, just straight, respectful lyric. Ron McCoury plays mandolin with Rob on Banjo on this cut. Rob and Ron McCoury join vocally to help recreate the Brewster/Webster combine as a quartet.

The York Brothers

The York Brothers came from Louisa, Kentucky and were popular from the fifties through the early seventies. They recorded Long Gone in 1942 on a 78 rpm record. This song, written by Leslie York, can be confused with Leslie York's song Long Time Gone, discussed earlier as recorded by the Everly brothers, merely because of the title. Phil Wells suggests that the time between the two songs might simply have been long enough that he forgot the title of the earlier work when naming the new one. The York Brothers sound was pure country with lots of pedal steel and electric guitar. While singing two of their songs on this CD, the Gibsons keep it pure acoustic, using plenty of expressive syncopation and lots of mandolin, not found in the York Brothers recordings I listened to.

Jim & Jesse McReynolds

Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes almost sounds like it should be the prelude to An Angel with Blue Eyes and I must say makes me miss her even more. It's a lively song sung by Eric with a twinkle in his voice on a full-out bluegrass representation. Written by Helms and Taube, the song was widely performed by among others Bill Monroe, but the Gibson's fittingly chose Jim & Jesse McReynolds version, out of many, as a representative brother duo to use as a model. The song is a driving bluegrass love ditty with strong fiddle from Clayton Campbell, whose marvelous work is seen in many shades and nuances throughout the CD.

The Gibson Brothers

Clayton Cambell, Eric, Leigh, Mike Barber, Jesse Brock

The enormous difference between “influenced by” and “copying” or “imitating” became increasingly apparent to me as I combed through You Tube to listen to the originals, when they were available. Although almost all of these songs were written before the Gibson Brothers were even born, and many before anything that could be called bluegrass existed, they form a part of the matrix on which bluegrass music is built and continues to evolve. Covers of great songs are often designed to sound just like the originals. Bluegrass connoisseurs will seek to evaluate a cover by its adherence to the original. The current Earls of Leicester tribute to Flat & Scruggs is a surpassingly good example of this. And its what the Gibson Brothers assiduously avoid. Instead, they take the road of honoring and interpreting the song while striving to be true to these, mostly, pre-bluegrass originators or early performers of the songs. In so doing, they rise above the songs, adding to the luster of the music and the performers, while burnishing their own crystal clear performances so they shimmer in the air.

Lee Gibson

Eric Gibson

Phil Wells has commented, “Eric & Leigh have paid a great tribute to brother groups with a style that is both their own and very respectful of the tradition. Brotherhood places the Gibson Brothers in regions where it should catch the ears and imaginations of people who vote in the Grammy selections. Although it may defy genre definition because of its crossover nature, it still deserves consideration for an award. With Brotherhood, the Gibson Brothers have removed any question mark that might still have existed about their belonging in the great line of brother duos and replaced it with an exclamation point!

Signing with Rounder

We were given a copy of Brotherhood by the Gibson Brothers. The CD was engineered by Ben Surratt and mastered Paul Blakemore. The Gibson Brothers touring band of Mike Barber (who also co-produced the album with Eric and Leigh) was augmented by Ronnie Reno, Russ Pahl on pedal steel, Ronnie McCoury, Rob McCoury, and Sam Zuchini on drums. Brotherhood marks the Gibson Brothers first effort with Rounder Records.

The Sweetest Gift, A Mothers Smile from Brotherhood

The Gibson Brothers - Video

Snapshots by Darin & Brooke Aldridge: CD Review

Snapshots is the sixth album Darin & Brooke Aldridge have released, a collection of songs highlighting “bits and pieces of our past. Snapshots includes songs that showcase bands we've always admired or been a part of, songs we've always loved or written, songs we grew up hearing on the radio, and songs folks have passed along to us that have helped them through difficult times in their lives.” The recording includes songs of commitment, faith, and hope, just the sort of material this duo has highlighted throught their career.

Most of the band on Snapshots is composed of Becky Buller-Haley on fiddle, Tyler Collins on banjo, Collin Willis on Dobro, and Dwayne Anderson on bass. Included are guest appearances by Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, Bobby Hicks, and Steve McMurry. As usual, Darin Aldridge doubles on mandolin and guitar thanks to the wonders of modern recording. Brooke's wonderful voice dominates the recording. Known for her vocal power, Brooke's sublety and thoughtful interpretations are always a consistent component of her singing. Songs spanning a period from the late nineteenth century to fresh out of the box show the range of material the duo uses and their keen ability to make each piece their own.

Darin Aldridge

The album opens with an upbeat gospel song written by Marty Stuart and Jerry Sullivan and featuring Sam Bush on mandolin and harmony vocal called Get Up John. This is a lively, driving song urging John the Baptist to haul himself out of bed and get to his appointed responsibility of meeting Jesus at the River Jordan to annoint him for his ministry. Brooke Aldridge's clear, powerful voice awakens the listener on this opening track as it's intendend to get the Baptist going, too. The song stands as a powerful demand for John as well as an attention getter on this album.

Bill Monroe's Rose of Old Kentucky takes more than an obligatory nod to the father of bluegrass music in a thoughtful twining of Darrin and Brooke's voices around Bobby Hicks' guest fiddle and Darin's mandolin. This song, reportably one of Bill's “true story” songs, along with Sweet Georgia Rose was first recorded in the famous Columbia Records recording session in 1947 and 1948 with Flatt & Scruggs in the band, which helped catapult Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys to stardom. Because it combines the historical provenance with Darin & Brooke's commitment to wholesome love songs, it functions on a number of important levels in this album.

Gillian Welch's Annabelle features the members of the Darin & Brooke Aldridge touring band. I'm a fan of hearing the band I see at festivals on the CD's the band produces. While I know that guest artists add to the glamour and allure of a recording, we buy CD's not only to support the band, but to try to re-create the experience we had seeing them at festivals we attend. With a plaintive opening instrumental sequence provided by Colin Willis on the Dobro, Tyler Collins on banjo, and Becky Buller-Hayley on fiddle, the song asks how we can understand the difficulties of life “until we've all gone to Jesus, we can only wonder why” as the character in the song contemplates the difficulties and hardships that life and death in the mines or the fields present. The arrangement exudes both mystery and hope in the plaintive blending of Darin and Brooke's singing with the music.

Brooke Aldridge

Lets is an aspirational love song about doing the things in life that bring pleasure while demonstrating the bond of a couple. Written by Eddie Adcock, the song is filled with lovely images of high mountains, beautiful vistas, and strong togetherness. The driving banjo is no surprise here, considering the writer. Tyler Collins has his own style that works better than fine here. Becky Buller, in her last recorded appearance on a Darin & Brooke album, plays fiddle on all the cuts which have a fiddle. She has since left the band to form her own. People seeing the Darin & Brooke on the road and in future recording will enjoy watching, and hearing, the contributions of the young, but quite accomplished, Carli Arrowood, who has joined them.

When He Calls is a gospel song with a guest appearance by Ricky Skaggs written by Paul Kennerly. Skaggs' voice blends into a beautiful trio with Darin & Brooke's strong and fervent duet singing.

Tennessee Flat Top Box captures the flexibility of Brooke's voice in a bluegrass interpretation of Johnny Cash's popular country song. It will prove to be popular in the way her earlier I want to be a Cowboy's Sweetheart has. She can consistently deliver a song with strength and conviction. Darrin's presentation of the guitar solos captures the spirit of the original. Jim Solde played the solos on the video I watched, Darin got it just right. It takes courage to cover Cash this way, and Brooke and Darin pull it off.

Let it Be Me (Becaud, Curtis, Delanoe) was first recorded in French in 1955 and later became a world-wide hit by the Everly Brothers, whose most popular recording was released in 1960. This is a classic love song interpreted by this duo which has specialized in heartfelt love songs. Darin & Brooke have brought the song up-to-date with some interesting vocal moves that take the sappiness out of the original. Darin's opening mandolin solo sets the tone and later returns with subtle, warm figures. This rendition shows the qualities that change a cover into a serious reinterpretation of a wonderful song.

The next song, He's a Coming (Whyte, Shaffer, Smith) strikes a welcome and sharp contrast to the previous one, as a peppy, upbeat gospel song with Becky Buller adding her vocal spark in a harmony. Brooke shows her vocal versatility by contrasting her voice against the darker, more sultry voice found in the previous song. Matt Love revisits his former band-mates on banjo in this cut.

Written by Steve McMurry, a former bandmate of Darin's with “Acoustic Syndicate,” A Better Place is a long song about the search for faith and self through seeking to reconnect with one's roots and the welfare of a loved one. Strong instrumental work.

Darin with, his lifetime friend Dr. Bobby Jones, a phsysician from Shelby, NC who wrote a terrific blog examining the life of a small town doctor who was also a musician and a golfer under the pseudonym of Dr. Tom Bibey as well as a novel The Mandolin Case before his sad death in 2012, wrote this lilting gospel song. The song stands on its own, but is also a tribute to a key anchor in Darin's life.

Snapshots concludes with a classic Darin & Brooke duet called Wait 'Til the Clouds Role By attributed here to Uncle Dave Macon, but with a much older history referred to in a broadside published in Scotland dating it back to 1880 or so and copyrighted by T.B. Harms. The song, sung as a duet accompanied by Darin on the guitar, is a lovely pledge of enduring commitment, a fitting way to end an album that is arguably the best work Darin & Brooke Aldridge have done since their debut recording.

Darin & Brooke Aldridge

I've Been Mostly Awake - Produced by Jon Weisberger with Various Artists - CD Review

Jon Weisberger has produced (with Dan Keen) a remarkable album of new songs co-written by him and a variety of singer/songwriters.  I've Been Mostly Awake  is the humorous phrase attendees at the IBMA's annual trade show World of Bluegrass and festival Wide Open Bluegrass say is really what IBMA means. Those who've had the pleasure of attending this annual extravaganza  can only smile knowledgeably when they hear the acronym. Featuring a backup band of fine musicians (Jesse Brock,Andy  Falco, Jeremy Garrett, Ned Luberecki, and Weisberger himself) the CD, available as a digital download from Amazon ($8.99). The physical CD is available through the album's Facebook Page.  All profits from this tuneful, varied collection will be donated to IBMA in support of its various programs.

Each of the songs in I've Been Mostly Awake, is written and features a top musician, most of whom are also noted as composers of at least some of their own work. The songs are filled with melody and thoughtful lyrics. Presented in a mostly bluegrass format, they nevertheless present songs that work well as country, pop, or jazzy swing songs, depending strongly on the influences creating the unique sound of each artist. These songs access a wide variety of hints and shades of bluegrass without becoming stereotyped. A listener can picture Claire Lynch leaning against a piano in a lounge singing her song One Mistake at a Time, while Tim O'Brien's Things that Still Remain capture his unique ability to capture direct emotion in his singing. Shawn Camp and Pam Tillis each contribute songs that fit well into the sub-genre that's now being called "real country." Never Go Back by the Gibson Brothers contains their characteristic thoughtful look at the future while examining their past in a song filled with determination to keep growing and becoming. Dale Ann Bradley's contribution celebrates the contribution of Momma and Daddy to the fulfillment of dreams in the present in Now and Then, which is filled with nostalgia.

Weisberger emerges here not for his own brilliance, but for his ability to work with individual performers to help them realize their own unique musical selves. Each song on the album captures the signature sound of a song the featured singer would write. There doesn't seem to be any hint that Jon seeks to dominate or impose his own sound or vision on the song. Rather, his work functions to help each writer capture and maintain a characteristic self. This makes him either a genius at helping people find their own voice or a chameleon without a signature sound of his own. I prefer the former. Eric Gibson remarks, "We have written a few times with Jon and were struck by how comfortable the process was. Each song was a true co-write with good give and take. Jon is a pro."  Other songs in I've Been Mostly Awake were co-written with Jeremy Garrett, Sara Siskind, Stephen Mougin, Kim Richey & Thomas Jutz, Jim Lauderdale, Sierra Hull, and Chris Jones. These major performers are supported by some of the best singers in the business singing harmony, including Steve Gulley, Del McCoury, Carl Jackson, Patty Mitchell, Thomas Jutz, Sally Jones, and Darren Vincent. The project was engineered and mixed by Ben Surratt at Compass Records studio, who also is listed as Associate Producer.

Jon  Weisberger - Executive Producer

  Jon Weisberger, during his busy career in music, has worn many hats. As a writer, he's won IBMA awards for Print Media Person of the Year (2000), Liner Notes of the Year (2001) and Bluegrass Song Writer of the Year (2012) He co-hosts, with Del McCoury a program of traditional music on Xm/Sirius radio called "Hand Picked with Del McCoury. He plays bass with Chris Jones & the Night Drivers. He is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of IBMA. The present CD is the first production of Wise Kings Global Entertainment, in which Jon is a partner with Dan Keen, former ASCAP Vice-President and current professor at Belmont College in Nashville, .

Dan Keen - Co-Executive Producer

Dan Keen commented, "Our company is really a Publishing company. We decided to launch it with a benefit project for the IBMA based on several things. One is the First Fruits doctrine in the Scriptures. The idea is that you don't wait until you're successful and then give to God and others. You do that up front, trusting that your efforts will be blessed and you will be fine. 

In addition, Bluegrass music and the IBMA have been the creative center of our lives and we want to give back. Humbly, we are trying to set an example for others, encouraging them to think about things like this that they could do to contribute to and support the IBMA." Dan's major role in the current production was "to seek funding and other donations. Compass gave us lots of great advice and FREE use of their fantastic studio for example. I also am doing most of the Admin work such as licensing and permissions."

Jon Weisberger & Dan Keen

This is truly a fine production benefiting a worthy cause and will make a fine addition to your Holiday gift list. 

Road vs. Studio Bands - Essay

Below is a lightly edited version of an essay published yesterday on the Welcome Page of the California Bluegrass Association web site. As always, I'm grateful to CBA for their years of giving me a monthly forum which encourages me to extend my thinking on a variety of things bluegrass. I look forward to your comments on FaceBook, Google+, and in the forums. For those who have had trouble commenting directly here, comments on Google+ posts are linked to my blog.

Irene often works for bands at festivals selling their merchandise while they're onstage or for longer, if they want her to stay. Over the years she's become adept at finding the CD on the rack containing specific songs the band has sung during their set. Often this means she sells older CD's on the basis of one song. Sometimes fans point to a CD asking her, “Is this the band I heard up there?” Sadly, she sometimes has to say that the band has changed, or that a studio band was used in the recording. In the past several years, the sales of band CD's have cratered. Formerly, bands toured in support of their latest CD. Today, it's more frequent that bands record to support their tour, as revenues from live performance have increased to surpass their recording incomes.

Recently I heard an agent who works with a top emerging band in the bluegrass and Americana world emphasize the importance of having the band reproduce accurately and consistently the precise renditions it had recorded in its live performances. However, I've also heard a number of bluegrass musicians say they never play the same break in exactly the same way as well as asserting the boredom that trying to do so would engender. Also, bluegrass bands frequently change personnel, which leads to different sounds, both vocal and instrumental. How does one square this circle? Since there has been revolutionary change in the recording industry over the past two decades, the parameters of both recording and performing have undergone a distinct change. A successful performance requires considerably more showmanship than merely reproducing the sound heard on a recording. A recording can never precisely reproduce either the sound or the immediacy of a live performance. Therefore, while the recording of a song should complement the live performance, it can never reproduce it, not even on live performance recordings.

Two models of recording seem to be at work here. In what I heard referred to as the “Country Model,”studio musicians are hired to back up the featured performer for a recording. Road musicians are hired to tour with the artist, seeking to reproduce the sound on the recording as accurately as possible. There are a couple of reasons studio (session) musicians might be used. Because of their experience in the recording studio, they can “get” the song more quickly and be prepared to provide the kind of performance the recording requires in fewer takes, thus saving both time and money in the making of the CD. Time is money...so the conventional wisdom says. However, even with the finest of session musicians, a question arises as to whether they capture the vibe and passion a song worked up on the road through months of previewing that the road band can create. Another reason for using session (or guest) musicians is to add luster to the names of performers on the recording. There are a number of well known session musicians whose mere name on the CD may have the power to increase sales. The current practice of recording segments on their home system and emailing them to the producer may, however, reduce the immediacy and emotional impact of such playing.

The second model requires the road band to be the recording band. Bluegrass is known as a improvisational music. A tune is expressed or played and the musicians play off each other to enhance and relate to each others' interpretations. In this way, it's like jazz performance. One characteristic of such performances is that they change as the interpretation matures and develops through repetition and the further development of understanding both in the lyric and the tune. Many bands spend weeks or months on the road and in practice sessions developing songs they have carefully chosen and or written, developing an interpretation that grows. Even in covers, they insert their own understanding into the song, seeking to make it simultaneously recognizable and fresh. Bluegrass aficionados know and recognize side musicians, and appreciate their quality.

Some bands seem to be more effective as recording bands while others shine best in live performance. I must say the dynamics to this still manage to escape me. In some cases both recording and performance are exciting, even when they seem to me to be quite different. The Infamous Stringdusters strike me as such a band. We attended an outdoor concert of theirs at the Whitewater Training Center outside Charlotte, NC last spring. It was engrossing and lively as the power of the band, its volume, and the excitement they generated in the audience was palpable. The other day we listened to their new recording, “Let It Go.” We were both aware of their lyricism as well as able to understand the lyrics of the song, without being overpowered by the volume. The experience of the recording and the performance were quite different, but both satisfying. On the other hand, I have noticed that some bands we enjoy immensely in performance come across as flat, even listless in recording. I can't say whether this is attributable to the setting, the engineering, the lack of or presence of an audience or whatever else. But it does provide a very different experience. Fine recordings made before a live audience may help to bridge some of this distance.

As the technology of distributing recorded music continues to change in the years to come, the dynamics of the recording/performance relationship will change, too. New venues and ways to deliver live performance will continue to emerge. I hope that live performances in spaces where the audience and the performers are in the same place will continue to be important, but who knows. Meanwhile, the issue of making recordings that feel alive will continue to challenge engineers while the hard work of presenting previously recorded material in a familiar fashion will also remain. It's an exciting and demanding time.

Rhonda Vincent - Only Me: CD Review

Country music and bluegrass music have always been engaged in a somewhat difficult relationship based on style, content, instrumental structure, and more. When Bill Monroe joined the Grand Ole Opry, he called his music “country music” and Flatt & Scruggs also considered themselves a country music band. The country sub-genre came to be called bluegrass music, taking its name from The Bluegrass Boys, the name of Monroe's band referring to his home in Kentucky, the bluegrass state. None of this separation much bothers Rhonda Vincent, who easily, even seamlessly, fits her singing and musical choices into both areas and has now made a statement about their kinship through her very fine set of two six song CD's called “Only Me.”

While the material is presented in two CD's, the country side contains her rendition of “Beneath Still Waters,” which has long been a staple of her bluegrass shows at festivals, while the bluegrass disk is highlighted by guest appearances of country (and cross genre) great Willie Nelson and Daryle Singletary. With the aging of the baby boomer generation, and the deterioration of their hearing after years of rock abuse, bluegrass and classic country music seem to be riding a wave of popularity that, if well handled, could last for a generation. This resurgence will include the softening of rock standards as they are grassed and countrified to fit their newly softening aural tastes. Only Me is right in the pocket for this audience. 

Rhonda & Willie

  

The country disk in Only Me contains two songs that are familiar inclusions in Rhonda's bluegrass performances, “Drivin Nails” and “Beneath Still Waters” as well as a nice original written by Rhonda called “Teardrops Over You.” The Bill Anderson standard “Bright Lights & Country Music” is also a nice addition. The band for the Country disk contains a bunch of fine country musicians including Tim Crouch on fiddles, Kevin Grantt on the upright bass, Carl Jackson on accoustic guitar, Mike Johnson on steel guitar, Catherine Marx on piano, James Mitchell on electric guitar, and Lonnie Wilson on drums. Michael Rojas pitches in on piano for “Drivin' Nails.” Harmony vocals are provided by Gene Johnson & Dana Williams on the Bill Anderson song “Once a Day.” All six songs feature Rhonda's clean, clear voice in country mode with characteristic sliding into the note rather than the more bluegrassy trait of hitting the note dead on. I was left with a question in my mind about why producer Rhonda Vincent felt it necessary to replace instrumental stalwarts in her own band, who appear on the bluegrass disk like Mickey Harris on bass and the great Hunter Berry on fiddle. I bet Josh Williams on guitar is more than up to playing country electric guitar and Brent Burke, her regular resophonic player can, I'm certain, do a more than creditable job on pedal steel.

Rhonda Vincent.

 

In bluegrass Rhonda Vincent has nothing to prove to anyone. The title song, Only Me by Bill Yates and Roger Brown features Willie Nelson singing harmony and a solo verse. It's a good song, but the little twist of including country legend Nelson in a bluegrass song is particularly genre bending and effective. Larry Cordle and Lionel Delmore contribute “I'd Rather Hear I Don't Love You (Than Nothing at All) which adds another sly piece of genre bending. Played in a clear bluegrass style, it is still worth remembering that Cordle wrote “Murder on Music City Row” decrying the death of “real” country music. Rhonda's band “The Rage” consists of Hunter Berry on fiddle, Mickey Harris on bass, Aaron McDaris on banjo, Rhonda herself on mandolin, and Josh Williams on guitar. 80's country singer Melba Montgomery (who often collaborated with the late George Jones) contributes “We Must Have Been Out of our Minds” with country singer Daryle Singletary featured, which still comes out as a genuine bluegrass song. Meanwhile, Brent Burke's lovely tremolo on the resophonic guitar would do any pedal steel player justice. The final song on this disk is banjoist Haley Stiltner's waltz-like “It's Never Too Late,” which is a bluegrass gospel song, more traditional in bluegrass sets than it is in country music.

Rhonda Vincent & the Rage

in their natural habitat

 

People wishing to do so can argue about these songs 'til the cows come home, taking the “it's not bluegrass” or “it's country” point of view. Better they should just sit back and enjoy this well produced, fun-filled set of two six-song disks. The production values are high and the packaging is effective and, I should think, expensive. There are two disks clearly labeled “Country” and “Bluegrass” packaged with pictures of Rhonda dressed appropriately for each role. The wholesome and attractive look of the album photos presents Vincent perfectly. The recording values are among the best I've heard recently, with clear dynamics and beautiful reproduction. OnlyMe represents a really good introduction for country fans to some fine bluegrass and a reaffirmation for bluegrass people who like to hear classic country mixed with their bluegrass. Perhaps the greatest differences between the material on the two disks lies in the instrumentation and the blinding speed in a couple of the bluegrass songs. Only Me is available by direct sale to fans attending Rhonda Vincent and the Rage performances as well as at all the regular outlets for recorded music. The street date for this CD is January 28, 2014. My copy of the CD was provided by Rhonda's publicist.