Overall Comments

“If You Want To Go To Sleep, Go To Bed”. Is the title of the new cd by banjoist Hunter Robertson and fiddler Casey Joe Abair. And it is obviously a work that involved a lot of late nights for a long time before any recording equipment was ever set up. When the players know each other well, and have put in many hours together, fiddle and banjo duets can catch fire, producing an event that is more than the sum of the two instruments. Abiar and Robertson obviously know each other well and know how to throw ideas back and forth in a way that brings the listener a new insight into the music. If that all sounds a bit “classical”, well perhaps it is. The banjo fiddle combination is does not have the full sound of a string band, it is more like a chamber group, where the communication between instruments and players is more important than a full group sound. Listeners can really hear the two instruments because they differ in range, timbre, attack, sustain, and so many other ways. It is almost as if the fiddle and banjo go so well together because they have so little in common.

Banjo and fiddle is also one of the most exacting and dangerous combinations to record. Unlike a full band, fiddle and banjo will not cover mistakes for each other. Each player is fully responsible for every note he produces. This is not music for players who need the safety net of guitar and bass.

The selection of tunes is heavily weighted toward the old tunes played with the fire and enthusiasm they really deserve but seldom get these days, but there are some less common tunes that work beautifully in the duet setting. their “The Devil’s Dream” is from Hobart Smith and very different than the one I play. It is actually considerably more “band” friendly and the tune is closer to John Brown’s Dream.

“Fort Smith Breakdown” doesn’t show up on many jam lists but is a super tune from a 1920s recording by Luke Highnight’s Ozark Strutters. Here Robertson is playing a fretless Harmony ResoTone in Old G (gDGDE) tuning. “Run Slave Run” uses the same tuning and probably the same banjo.

“Hog Eye Man” aka “Sally In The Garden” is frequently played crooked, but Abair and Thompson seem to have found a whole new crooked way to do it. I’m going to try it out, but I won’t attempt to show it to my jam groups.

Some of the selections are great “trance” tunes where the two instruments seem to float around the melody passing it back and forth until you feel it has been the background music to your entire life. I was very surprised to read that “Tater Patch” and “Sandy River Belle” were each only about four minutes, as was their rendition of “Sail Away Ladies”

The album is Yodel-Ay-Hee number 74, and you can order it direct from Hunter Robertson’s website:
http://www.hunterrobertson.com
where you can also watch videos of Abair and Robertson, and even buy a copy of Robertson's solo album “Hunter Robertson Sings Songs For The Masses.”

Overall Rating

9

Overall Comments

Not sure where to put this note, since I didn't really find a category for live shows, but I just saw Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers in Atlanta. What a great show! Steve Martin was, as you'd expect, funny throughout the show, but he didn't turn this into a comedy tour. Far from it. This show is all about the music. Just about everything they played was written by Steve or the Rangers. That said, one nod to the classics was a superb rendition of Orange Blossom Special that brought the house to its feet.

A great evening, and a rare treat to see Steve live playing his banjo. Highly recommended.

Overall Rating

9

Overall Comments

If you like your stringband music hot, but flavourful then Kevin Fore’s new album “Frolic In Round Peak” belongs in your collection. Technically the cd is by “Kevin Fore & Friends” and what a collection of friends it is. Reading the track list is like reading the Who’s Who of Round Peak Music. From Benton Flippen, Bobby Thompson, Chester McMillian, Verlin Clifton, Kirk Sutphin and Riley Baugus to the many great musicians of Kevin’s generation like Emily Schaad, Jeremy Stephens, James Burris, and Joey Burris. Even this is not a complete listing of all the musicians on the album.

Kevin and bunch are joined on several tracks by eighty nine year old master fiddler Benton Flippen, who also contributed a brand new tune to this album: “Benton’s Haystack Blues”. The Fiddle part is real slippery, slithery as befits a blues, while the banjo weaves in and out through the music. The tune would fit into a set list from the 1930s, instead of the strict confines of most post-war blues tunes, it has a modulation characteristic of the early radio era.

I was not familiar with “Red Bird” but it is going to be the next tune I add to our jam lists. I keep going back to it again and again. Bobby Patterson plays guitar on this tune and Benton Flippen once again provides stirring fiddle.

Durham’s Bull Is another new tune (to me) and it features Emily Schaad fiddling in the swinging style of Benton Flippen, her mentor

If you think there is no room for clawhammer banjo against bluegrass banjo riffs, listen to “Sally Goodin” with Kevin on the fretless and Jeremy Stephens on bluegrass banjo, working together to create an entirely novel blend of banjo textures. Now add Kirk Sutphin on fiddle and you have an Old Time & Bluegrass cross with the drive of Round Peak.

My favourite banjo track was “Grey Eagle” Where Kevin’s fretless banjo slides around Jeremy Stephen’s fiddle and Kirk Sutphin’s Demonstration of the late Paul Sutphin’s Camp Creek Boys guitar style

Kevin’s regular band, the award winning “Southern Pride” only shows up as a unit on a single track “Lost Indian”. I hope there is a full cd by the group soon, but for now you can find some tracks on youtube and watch the group in action.

Kevin Fore’s first cd (Round Peak - The Tradition Continues) has been out for about a year now, and if you haven’t bought it yet, add it to your order. It is equally consistent high level Round Peak excitement.

Overall Rating

9

Overall Comments

Excellent. I have a thirst to hear the banjo outside of the traditional bluegrass arena, that is why I love Bela. This album showcases classical works by Chopin, Bach and others. The arrangements are for banjo, and one or two other instruments for each piece such as violin, cello, bass and piano. This is perhaps one of Bela's best albums to date. I particularly like the Chopin pieces on banjo, it's as if they were written for the instrument.

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

great family band. great recordings, mastered by my friend jonathan (14 years old), who also plays banjo for the band. the mando/fiddle/guitar player is 17 and banjo/guitar player is 14 and could out play almost anyone, dad plays guitar and mom plays bass. this band is great!!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

You may wonder, why is there an Elvis Costello review on a banjo forum? Well, banjo suggests bluegrass, and so does this new album from Elvis Costello. I'm a big EC fan, and I have been listening to him since "My Aim Is True" back in the eighties. If you haven't listened to him in awhile, or can only recall the song "Alison" or "Watching the Detectives" you might want to give this a chance.

With an all-star group of session pros including Jerry Douglas on Dobro and Stuart Duncan on fiddle, and produced by T Bone Burnett (producer of Alison Krauss/Robert Plant and the O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie), this is right in the vein of bluegrass, country, Americana and Nashville music. It is overall a subtle album, but with Elvis, it's the lyric and poetry that make him what he is... a major league performer and musician. Not the mainstream, top 40, ready to burn out, and lumped into a category musician, but an individual talent who has lasted more than 30 years in the music business and has thousands of dedicated fans all over the world.

To tell the truth, I was excited and expected bluegrass quickness and licks, but this album hasn't got it. Not until you listen to it a few times that the musical nuances start to really stand out. Elvis knows how not to over-do the music, but instead let's every note and phrase speak for itself, and in turn, the music becomes the well-built vehcile that drive the lyrics of well crafted songs home.

This may not be for everybody, and I'm not going to try to persuade you. After all, music is an individual enjoyment and I enjoy this new creation by who I consider a genius of delivering inspirational and thought provoking music and poetry.

Hear samples of Elvis Costello "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane": http://www.elviscostello.com/

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

Woody Guthrie Meets Brian Wilson...and the result is fantastic!

Arkansas Red's "Last Train Out" is the most honest album of original American songs since "Dust Bowl Ballads." Red's account of the vagaries of a hobo's life transports the listener straight to the jungle camps, boxcars and train yards. The sincerity of his understanding of, and empathy for these forgotten people is deeply affecting. And then there's this business about Red playing all the instruments, singing all the lead and background parts and writing all the songs. The last person who did that was Brian Wilson and we all thought it was Brian and those four other guys. Oh, and Woody did it, too, but he only had to play two instruments and sing one part.

Red, who happens to be a member of Banjo Hangout, is an accomplished banjoist in a variety of styles, including frailing, which he learned in person from Stringbean. There's some excellent banjo playing on Last Train Out, plenty of fine guitar and sensitive singing in Red's picturesque mountain drawl.

What more can I say, except you must get this CD. Go to CD Baby.com and order it now. Just do it!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

First, I am surprised that no one has reviewed this stellar album. Steve Martin is a first-class banjo player, both 3-finger and clawhammer. This album showcases his talents as a player, composer, and songwriter. While most selections are original instrumentals, four of the tracks are songs written or co-written by Steve. Steve's 3-finger is pretty straight ahead Scruggs, complimented nicely by the all-over-the-place-in-a-good-way Tony Trischka. Steve's clawhammer is crisp and clear and somewhat like Mark Johnson in attack and style. Guest artists include Earl Scruggs, Gary Scruggs, Tim O'Brien, Vince Gill, Tony Trischkas, Pete Wernick, Dolly Parton, Mary Black, and producer John McEuen, and others. The tunes are well-crafted and the picking is inspired. My only criticism is obvious pick noise on one track. This is a must-have for comedic banjo players. And, serious pickers, too!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

This album is not new, but I came across it maybe a year or two ago. I find it to be some of the best music ever played. Its traditional bluegrass instrumentation (with guys like Tony Rice and Sam Bush) is coupled with a diverse selection of traditional to modern bluegrass tunes. The best part is that it doesn't hold back showcasing Bela's virtuostic ability.

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

Frailin’ with Friends
Rootbass Records
Reviewed 3/19/2009 by Joan Radell

We often refer to a “circle of friends.” And circle is the perfect metaphor. It only takes two people to start that circle, and as we journey through life we make our circle bigger one person at a time. When times are tough, we pull that circle close for the support we need. And in happy times, our circle expands exponentially as we share our joy. A circle of friends is an ever-changing, living thing that breathes love.

Craig “Frailin’” Evans, well known in old-time music circles for his lyrical banjo style, is one of those folks whose circle just keeps getting better and stronger every day. Craig has gathered a circle of his musical friends to compile a collection of songs that conveys just how he feels about life. His amazing banjo is the musical thread that ties each musician and each song together.

Frailin’ with Friends was produced for a special group of Craig’s friends--the online community at AutismHangout.com. Autism spectrum disorder is a catch-all term for a wide variety of brain-development disorders. Families touched by autism face special challenges every day, and the support and empathy they can give and receive at the Autism Hangout makes life a little easier. Craig opened his circle to include those with autism, their families, friends, and caregivers, and is using the proceeds of the sale of the album to benefit this online community.

Frailin’ is a busy guy. He plays regularly with his two bands, Singleton Street and The Eelpout Stringers. Both bands and their widely differing styles are well represented here. Singleton Street is a quartet featuring Sherri and Chuck Leyda and Jimmy Newkirk that favors upbeat old-time gospel tunes. Their tight harmony, exceptional instrumentals and grinning delivery is quintessentially happy music. Of the four Singleton Street tunes on the album, the standout is “Red Clay Halo.” It is simply impossible to listen to this bubbly arrangement of Gillian Welch’s tune without tapping at least one toe. With voices that blend effortlessly in classic 4-part harmony without a trace of muddiness, “Angel Band” is a rich treatment of the 1860’s era gospel standard. And the revival-style “Get in Line Brother” is a hand-clapping ripsnort of a ride.

Craig’s exuberant clawhammer banjo fronts the Eelpout Stringers. Loyd Mitchell, Karl Burke and Nick Rowse fill out this quartet. The band takes their name from the Eelpout Festival, held annually on frozen Leech Lake in Walker, Minnesota. After entertaining the cold crowd with their fish-kissing antics, the foursome has been known to sing for their supper--busking a few tunes in exchange for a welcome hot meal and cold glass. The Stringers are masters of old-time standards and appear four times on the album. Their straightforward arrangements highlight the influence of ancient Celtic musical themes on traditional Appalachian-roots music. But Craig’s musical circle encompasses more than classic old-time-genre foursomes.

The precise bass and rippling guitar of renaissance man David Tousley weaves through more than a few songs on Frailin’ with Friends. Whether counter-pointing a fresh, plaintive duet arrangement of the ancient tune “Greensleeves” on guitar, or providing a strong thump of foundation for the camp-song handclapper “I’ve Got Two Hands,” David is a versatile musician who understands the complexity of frailed banjo. His delicate, sparkling guitar enhances but never overpowers. (Beyond his performance talent, Tousley also mixed and mastered the album.) The album’s show stealer, however, is Debbie Sorenson-Boeh. She’s a master fiddler and evocative vocalist. With a controlled hand and light touch on the bow, Debbie has found the Holy Grail of violin: a timbre and tone that parallels that of the human voice. Debbie started playing the violin at the tender age of 11, and trained in classical performance. After a decade’s break to raise her family, Debbie again picked up her violin and took a bluegrass path. She discovered that traditional roots music allowed her to connect with an audience in the way she wanted to. “The thing I love most is cutting to the core of a song/feeling/story,” Debbie says. “I don't like a lot of fancy stuff - I want something honest and unique.” Honest and unique perfectly describes Debbie’s stellar vocals on “A Mother’s Dying Words to Her Daughter.” Although the song title seems bleak for an album about the joys of friendship, Debbie’s soaring, true alto raises this 1920’s tune from maudlin to masterpiece. Reminiscent of American folk-music icons Hazel Dickens, Maybelle Carter, and yes, Joan Baez, Debbie’s vocal performances exemplify old-time music while redefining it in a modern, relevant way.

Rounding out “Frailin’ with Friends” are two tracks featuring Craig and his “festival friends.” These impromptu, live recordings took place under a rain tarp in a field in central Minnesota (it was a June festival jam), and embody all that is great about old-time traditional music. Fiddler Debbie Sorensen-Boeh, award-winning autoharpist Karen Mueller, singer/songwriter/guitarist Geoff Shannon and bassist Terry Sullivan join Craig in rousing renditions of “Soldier’s Joy,” a tune that dates at least as far back as the Civil War, and the old-time standard “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss.” The exuberance of al fresco jamming, artfully pre-mastered by Geoff Shannon, shines through these two songs.

Frailin’ with Friends ends with a solo by our Frailin’ friend himself. Craig plays “Raising Arizona,” a composition that begins with the theme from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, better known as “Ode to Joy.” The song drifts into the Sons of the Pioneers “Way Out There”… an ethereal melody, set off by a wordless descant that brings to mind cowboys and vivid sunsets. Is Frailin’s high lonesome cry a yodel? A prayer? A whoop of joy? Perhaps it’s a call to music-lovers near and far, young and old, to join hands and form a circle: a circle of friends.

This happy album is available for purchase at www.AutismHangout.com. All proceeds from the album’s sale will benefit the Autism Hangout. For more information on the musicians featured on “Frailin’ with Friends,” check the following websites:

Craig Evans: www.myspace.com/frailin
Singleton Street: www.myspace.com/singletonstreet
The Eelpout Stringers: www.myspace.com/eelpout
Debbie Sorensen-Boeh: www.myspace.com/debsorensenboeh
David Tousley and Marty Marrone: www.tangledrootsbluegrass.com
Geoff Shannon: www.myspace.com/maryhendersonampgeoffshannon
Karen Mueller: www.karenmueller.com

Joan Radell is a music lover who follows the bluegrass and old-time music scene from a lovely perch high in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. Contact her at joanchek@aol.com.

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

I love this album!!! 5 stars!!!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

GENIUS

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

This is an amazing collection of old-tyme folk classics recordered by the master, Pete Seeger. To hear songs like Drunken Sailor, Old Wreck of '97, and Oh Suzanna played in earnest is a real treat. Pete Seeger at his best!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

This is probably the most free wheeling of F&S recordings done between the time the were working for Bill and before Columbia's A&R men got a hold of them, There is a freshness and vitality to the playing. You can almost picture them finishing a take and smiling at each other saying WOW did we play that; including the Original FMB!! There should be 28 cuts on the CD.
Buy It. BUY IT!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

I agreed with everything Drew said above, but just as a side light it was Earl's wife, Louise, who came up with the idea of recording it and overcame a hesitant record company...THANKS LOUISE!!

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

I'd seen some of Clifton Hicks's videos on YouTube, and could tell he was an accomplished old-time player. But the sound quality on those tiny videos doesn't do his playing justice - it's extremely good. He plays a few tunes on low-tuned fretless, and his voice has world-weary edge to it. A couple of the tracks have some background noise, but otherwise this is a truly fantastic album.

Tracks - Jubilee; Cackling Hen; Going Across the Mountain; Wild Bill Jones;
Little Birdie; Morphine; Bright Sunny South; East Virginia; Frankie
And Johnny; Prodigal Son; Single Girl, Married Girl; German War.

Available direct from the artist: http://cliftonhicks.com/

Overall Rating

9

Overall Comments

Steve is actually quite an accomplished picker.His song touches on the hope all musicians have, that a young listener is touched by the music, and inspired to pick it up.

Overall Rating

8

Overall Comments

Great album, Great pickers, Great vocals, Great songs and Tunes. Definately worth a listen.

Overall Rating

7

Overall Comments

This one smokes! Full title: "Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends - The Ultimate Collection - Live at The Ryman". Great production, selection, etc.
Just released (late 2007), this can't be beat.

Overall Rating

10

Overall Comments

If you're like me, you love the blues as much as you love the banjo. I have heard banjo blues before, but not like this, and certainly not with a line-up like this. Otis Taylor, great bluesman in his own right, teams up with other greats like Keb Mo, Alvin Youngblood-Hart, Corey Harris, and a bunch of other amazing talents, and they all head into a thrilling exploration of the banjo's traditional roots. They mix in some modern twists using electricity, but this album puts a new/old spin on the blues, and showcases not only the artist's talent, but the erstwhile banjo's versatility.

Overall Rating

10