Author: Paul Birch
Bound - Book Review from Issue #49 Jan-Feb 2004
What I Know ’bout What I Know: The Musical Life Of An Itinerant Banjo Player
To those familiar with Butch Robins, it should come as little surprise that he had a book up his sleeve. Robins played banjo for Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys at the turn of the ’80s, and his passion for the music spilled over into several memorably astute interviews in the bluegrass press, establishing his reputation [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #39 May-June 2002
Charlie Sizemore – The Story Is…The Songs Of Tom T. Hall
Assembling a bluegrass tribute to the songwriting of Tom T. Hall seems easy enough. Simply round up fourteen bluegrass-friendly songs from Hall’s massive catalog, and roll tape. Charlie Sizemore, it appears, has taken a different approach, aiming instead for Sizemore-friendly songs that include several seemingly far-fetched bluegrass candidates. Smart move: The result is fine bluegrass, [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #34 July-Aug 2001
Country Gentlemen – On The Road (And More)
In one of the booklet photos, the Country Gentlemen are posed aboard ski-lift cars, instruments in tow, comic effect courtesy of Tom Gray’s ungainly upright bass. It’s a shot more reminiscent of the Kingston Trio than Flatt & Scruggs, and points out how effectively the Washington, D.C., foursome attached themselves to the era’s urban folk [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #24 Nov-Dec 1999
Tony Rice – Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen
West Coast roots-music pioneers Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen join forces once again with bluegrass/new acoustic titans Tony Rice and Larry Rice for a follow-up to their 1996 debut Out Of The Woodwork. Perhaps as the result of some touring, the foursome emerges as a more cohesive band, in contrast to the “recorded event” feel [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #23 Sept-Oct 1999
Doyle Lawson – Quicksilver’s message in service
Doyle Lawson is an interviewer’s dream. Good-humored and thoughtful as he fields questions countless previous interviewers have probably thrown his way, he also possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of bluegrass history and a remarkable mind for detail. The 55-year-old bandleader, arranger, singer, mandolinist/multi-instrumentalist, booking agent and record producer remains very much a student of bluegrass music, [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #21 May-June 1999
Gene Clark – Flying High
One can only hope Gene Clark, peering in from eternity, is chuckling knowingly at the delays and complications that surrounded the release of this all-too-short retrospective. The final postponement, Polydor’s dissolution of the U.S. A&M label, makes this one an import. It’s all too reminiscent of a career dotted with unfinished projects, unrecorded songs and [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #20 March-April 1999
Gene Clark – Flyin High
One can only hope Gene Clark, peering in from eternity, is chuckling knowingly at the delays and complications that surrounded the release of this all-too-short retrospective. The final postponement, Polydor’s dissolution of the U.S. A&M label, makes this one an import. It’s all too reminiscent of a career dotted with unfinished projects, unrecorded songs and [...]
Town and Country - Shorter Artist Feature from Issue #17 Sept-Oct 1998
Jones & Leva – “All the songs start out with just the two of us”
“Well, we play the fiddle and the banjo and we sing hillbilly harmony,” James Leva says as he and Carol Elizabeth Jones reflect on the “which browser bin?” dilemma. Actually, there’s a lot more going on here. Jones & Leva are accomplished old-time musicians whose love for mountain music led each through a series of [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #17 Sept-Oct 1998
Earl Scruggs Revue – Artist’s Choice: The Best Tracks, 1970–1980
Can this import really be the first CD retrospective of the Earl Scruggs Revue? Given the availability of virtually every note Earl Scruggs recorded as one-half of Flatt & Scruggs, it seems odd that it has taken eighteen years since the band’s breakup for a compilation of this kind to appear. The Revue was a [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #15 May-June 1998
Red Cravens & The Bray Brothers – 419 West Main
419 West Main is the CD debut of one of the great lost bluegrass bands of the early ’60s. Lost, because by all rights this band’s work should stand alongside that of the best young bluegrass acts of the era: the Country Gentlemen, the Kentucky Colonels and the Dillards. But Red Cravens & the Bray [...]
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