Bluegrass Unlimited #1 Albums...Plus

Alan Bibey & Grasstowne - Hitchhiking To California (July 2021)

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Contemporary bluegrass albums, like pre-20th Century classical compositions, have a firm structure. Their respective success (or failure) depends on how well they manage to transcend those expected boundaries. Hitchhiking To California may not be The Emperor Concerto but it checks all the boxes admirably. We get an upbeat travel song, a blue collar anthem, a cover, an instrumental, a heartbreak lament, a gospel song, even a murder ballad, all done up right in a traditional but not overly retro style.

Alan Bibey has been playing mandolin professionally for more than 35 years. After stints with The New Quicksilver, IIIrd Tyme Out, Lou Reid and Carolina and BlueRidge, Bibey founded Grasstowne in 2006 with Steve Gulley and the late Phil Ledbetter. Gulley and Ledbetter are long gone but Grasstowne lived on as his backup band with many talented young musicians over the years, currently Zak McLamb (bass), Justin Jenkins (banjo), Tony Watt (guitar) and Kati Penn (fiddle).

grasstowne.com

Alan Bibey & Grasstowne

Home page of Alan Bibey & Grasstowne, a bluegrass group
grasstowne.com grasstowne.com
 
axolotl said:
^ It looks like they're on the Road to Escondido, as well.
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I think I have mentioned before, but old family friends lived in the hills of Escondido above the satellite San Diego Zoo. We would sit outside on their porch at night eating quesadillas with refried beans, listening to the lions roar in the evening as the sun set.
He was also the guy who gave me my Award Winning Chili Con Carne recipe (awards won only after tweeking it a bit).
Hope you both are doing well, Scott and Patricia! Hope you are still up in the hills!
 
Barry Abernathy - Barry Abernathy & Friends (August 2021)

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We saw Barry here back in 2019 as a founding member of Appalachian Road Show. Over the years, the Georgia born banjo player has evolved from traditional bands like Doyle Lawson's Quicksilver and IIIrd Tyme Out to the progressive supergroup Mountain Heart. Like Django Reinhardt, Barry overcame a physical limitation (he was born with only a thumb and part of an index finger on his left hand) to excel on his chosen instrument.

This album is one of those "let's get a bunch of different folks in the studio at different times" tribute albums. Vince Gill,. Rhonda Vincent, Shawn Lane, Dan Tyminski, even his ex-boss Doyle Lawson drops by to lend vocal support to Abernathy's serviceable voice on a batch of tunes in the traditional vein. Barry is one of the truly nice guys in bluegrass music and his personal warmth shines through on this project.
 
Sam, I thought you might be interested in this. I was looking for a little part-time work and am in preliminary discussions with the organization that operates the World Of Bluegrass. They're looking for a marketing/communications person and I might be the guy for the job. One hang-up is they're looking for a full-time person and I'm looking for part-time hours - or at least part-time in the office. Being a single father won't make it easy to work full-time 30 40 minutes away. If the girls were older, this might be the perfect job for now.

If I got the position, I'd be working closely with the WoB event and learning a lot more about Bluegrass music. Of the p-t positions I've been looking at lately, this one seems the most fun and best fit, job wise. And hey, I'd get to see a lot of free concerts!

Right now, it's still a low chance this will happen. They say the position offers a "flexible schedule". We'll see.
 
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JazzyRandy said:
Sam, I thought you might be interested in this. I was looking for a little part-time work and am in preliminary discussions with the organization that operates the World Of Bluegrass. They're looking for a marketing/communications person and I might be the guy for the job. One hang-up is they're looking for a full-time person and I'm looking for part-time hours - or at least part-time in the office. Being a single father won't make it easy to work full-time 30 40 minutes away. If the girls were older, this might be the perfect job for now.

If I got the position, I'd be working closely with the WoB event and learning a lot more about Bluegrass music. Of the p-t positions I've been looking at lately, this one seems the most fun and best fit, job wise. And hey, I'd get to see a lot of free concerts!

Right now, it's still a low chance this will happen. They say the position offers a "flexible schedule". We'll see.
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Randy, that's wonderful. WOB is a big deal.

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:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: I hope it works out, for your sake and for the betterment of bluegrass music.

The International Bluegrass Music Association seems to be working toward making this highly traditional music more compatible with 21st century values. The Board of Directors even has a "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force". :oops:

As you just said, "we'll see." :meh:
 
Petticoat Junction - Lonely Old Depot (1993)

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No connection to the CBS TV series, this Petticoat Junction was an all female bluegrass group. The best known member is banjo player Gena Britt, who subsequently served in the Lonesome River Band, Balsam Range, Sideline and Grasstowne. Their second and final album is an excellent slice of traditional bluegrass with gorgeous harmonies.
 
Various Artists - Industrial Strength Bluegrass: Southwestern Ohio's Musical Legacy (September-October 2021)

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Recently I've been so busy with violins that I've let this fiddle thread go out of tune. Time to revive it with the most significant bluegrass collection to come along in many years. It's actually a companion piece to this book (also highly recommended) that explores the overlooked migration of laborers from Appalachia to Ohio in search of factory work:

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The album gathers 16 songs, all but three recorded at the height of the pandemic, from a stellar collection of artists ranging from traditional bluegrass (Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers) to modern bluegrass (Sierra Hull) to mainstream country (Vince Gill).

Each track pays tribute to an artist and/or song from the golden age of Ohio bluegrass, roughly the late 1940's to the 1980's. It begins with Mullins' cover of Dwight Yoakam's "Readin, Rightin', Route 23" that name checks the main route from Florida through Ohio to Michigan. Joe's dad, Paul "Moon" Mullins, was one of those "homesick hillbilly" migrants from Kentucky to Ohio who wound up playing bluegrass in their adopted home.

Closing out the record is Bobby Osborne, who at age 89 can still sing and play mandolin with the best of them. He and his recently deceased brother Sonny were themselves first generation migrants from Kentucky who were key pioneers in the development of bluegrass in Ohio. After years of struggle, they formed The Osborne Brothers, a highly influential band from the 1960's until Sonny's retirement in 2005.

As a special treat, Philip Paul plays drums on several songs. Paul was part of Syd Nathan's house band at Cincinnati-based King Records, where he played on innumerable sessions for an array of artists from Hank Ballard (the original version of "The Twist") to Cowboy Copas ("Alabam"). Another highlight is a 5 minute medley of songs made famous by Larry Sparks, a second generation migrant who cut his teeth with the legendary Stanley Brothers in the 1960's and is still on the road today.

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www.somusicfest.com

Industrial Strength Bluegrass Festival

2022 IBMA Event of the Year The Industrial Strength Bluegrass Festival is a three-day indoor music festival featuring the best in bluegrass and American roots music. Be sure to join us every Fall...
www.somusicfest.com www.somusicfest.com

This landmark project resonated strongly within the history-minded bluegrass community. So much so that it spawned "The Industrial Strength Bluegrass Festival" hosted by Joe Mullins and including many of the artists on the album.

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"Industrial Strength Bluegrass" is highly enjoyable on its own terms, but represents living history, that rare project that helped to carry a tradition forward even as it paid tribute to the past.

:5.0: on the Sam-O-Meter.
 
The Kentucky Mountain Boys - Bluegrass Holiday (1968)

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With the recent passing of J.D. Crowe, I decided to work through his discography. After a batch of singles for small labels, Crowe's group, The Kentucky Mountain Boys, released its first long player on equally tiny Lemco Records. What a group it was! Red Allen was a leader in the Ohio bluegrass scene discussed in the previous post, Doyle Lawson went on to a Hall of Fame solo career and left-handed fiddler Bobby Slone would continue with Crowe for many years.
 
Darin & Brooke Aldridge - This Life We're Livin' (November 2021-January 2022)

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www.darinandbrookealdridge.com

Darin & Brooke Aldridge

Darin & Brooke Aldridge continue to ascend to new heights in the music industry while keeping their easy-going, down-to-earth connection with audiences everywhere. Brooke is a four-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award for Female Vocalist of the Year, while...
www.darinandbrookealdridge.com www.darinandbrookealdridge.com

Husband and wife team Darin and Brooke Aldridge are both North Carolina natives. They met in 2005, married in 2008 and have released a string of successful albums since 2010. Their website tells us that Darin served six years in The Country Gentlemen. Both of them write, sing and play, with sweet harmony vocals their trademark sound.

This album, their eighth in 11 years, is full of accessible songs, effortless vocals and skillful picking from a group of well regarded studio musicians who never break a sweat. Darin's resemblance to Vince Gill extends to sharing a smooth singing style, while Brooke has an angelic, if rather cool voice. As contemporary bluegrass goes, this is a very solid if predictable record that obviously has broad appeal for its target audience.

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:3.0: on the Sam-O-Meter.
 
Balsam Range - Moxie and Mettle (February-June 2022)

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This band from western North Carolina just keeps rolling with the original lineup: Buddy Melton (fiddle, lead and tenor vocals); Darren Nicholson (mandolin, octave mandolin, lead vocals, baritone and low tenor vocals); Dr. Marc Pruett (banjo); Tim Surrett (bass, dobro, baritone and lead vocals); and Caleb Smith (guitar, lead & baritone vocals). Talk about consistency: Moxie and Mettle is their self-produced 10th album, all for the same label. Their respect for the traditional bluegrass sound doesn't stop them from singing catchy songs by today's top songwriters, delivered with impeccable instrumental chops and pure harmony vocals. Four of the dozen songs here have racked up more than 100,000 plays on Spotify, a sure sign of the group's broad appeal.

:5.0: on the Sam-O-Meter. Another outstanding effort.
 
Donna Ulisse - Livin' Large (July 2022)

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Donna Ulisse | Bluegrass Artist

Donna Ulisse | IBMA & SPBGMA award-winning Bluegrass singer/songwriter.
donnaulisse.com donnaulisse.com

Donna Ulisse's career has been a long journey. Born in Hampton, Virginia, she moved to Nashville thirty years ago. There she developed as a demo and jingle singer to the point that she scored a major label contract in 1991. Her debut album was very well received among traditional country fans (no, I haven't heard it but it is on order from Discogs :confused:) but Donna was devastated when the label suddenly dropped her.

She turned to songwriting and found that her work was being snapped up by bluegrass artists. Her migration to bluegrass accelerated when she married Rick Stanley, a cousin of bluegrass legends Carter and Ralph Stanley, who now runs her road band. By 2007, her material was so popular that her publisher started releasing albums on her in that style. More recently, her last three albums have been produced by Del McCoury, whom she credits for focusing her sound in a pure acoustic direction that maximizes both her warm voice and her evocative songs.

Livin' Large, Donna's 12th album, is her strongest yet. Del sifted through dozens of her songs to find 11 varied winners here. The title cut is a celebration of the joys of small town life (where "the only cop owns a donut shop"). There is also "Don't Bury This Bible With Me", a moving tribute to Donna's grandmother along the lines of Gail Davies' "Grandma's Song". My favorite is "Daffodil", a song of long term romance for which Del surprised Donna by adding his own vocals more as a duet than mere harmony. Donna write or cowrote 8 of the 11 songs here. So it is no surprise that these days in addition to touring and recording, Donna teaches songwriting.

:5.0: on the Sam-O-Meter.

"It Could Have Been The Mandolin", Donna's biggest hit, so far:

And the title cut from Livin' Large:


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