Prescription Bluegrass Reviews Finnders & Youngberg - I DON’T WANT LOVE YOU WON’T GIVE UNTIL I CRY

I love it when I’m not expecting a new CD from an artist that I really like and a new one magically appears at my door.

Finnders and Youngberg’s new music arrived and it was in my CD player immediately! I was very impressed with their last release, so I knew that this one was going to be good…….. and it has lived up to all my expectations, and beyond. 

The song writing is top shelf, the vocals are warm, expertly sung and expressive, the pickin’ is outrageously good, the personality and charisma of each player lights up the tracks, and it is recorded, mixed and mastered with an artistic and technical savvy. There isn’t a weak spot on the entire CD, and all that was evident after just one listening!

Prescription Bluegrass Reviews Laurel River Line - FARTHER DOWN THE LINE

A number of groups have recently been releasing some very good Bluegrass music and Laurel River Line is no exception.

The band’s second project Farther Down The Line, which was produced by Randy Jones of Lonesome River Band, is something that almost every listener will enjoy.

It is straight forward Bluegrass from the first song and does not let up until the last song is complete. Laurel River Line gives listeners tight harmonies and hard-driving instrumentation.

Prescription Bluegrass Reviews - ARAGON MILL by Si Kahn & The Looping Brothers

I have just returned to Ireland after showcasing my own material in Raleigh, NC, at IBMA. I also got to hear about a hundred other bands, and my head is still ringing in the key of “G”, after hearing so many versions of “Goldrush” and “Clinch Mountain Backstep.”

Wonderful and all as these Classic Bluegrass tunes are, it's refreshing to get to listen to a Bluegrass CD that is comprised of fifteen original songs, in a great variety of different keys, and sung by a man in what could be fairly described as a 'non-Bluegrass' voice.

Si Kahn is a legend in songwriting circles, and is probably best known, certainly in Europe, for his classic, “Aragon Mill,” which seems to have been around for so long, that many knowledgeable folks around these parts consider it to be an old Traditional song. This is a kind of reverse compliment in one way, but not one, I'm fairly sure, that appeals to Mr. Kahn, or his performing rights society/publisher, in this case, Conexion-media.com, when it comes to the collection of royalties. But that's another story.

Prescription Bluegrass Reviews RAMBLE ON from The Dirty River Ramblers

Ramble On is the debut recording project of the Dirty River Ramblers, from the Omaha, Nebraska area, and features ten original pieces, including three instrumentals.

A quick glance at the cover art suggests they are perhaps a traditional Bluegrass group, but, in fact, they sound more like a quasi-mix of Old-time, jam-band, folk, southern rock-ish with a prevailing old-time feel.

This effort is not likely to spawn accolades for spectacular musicianship or particularly strong vocal talents, though both are adequate and pleasant and some of the lead singing (not sure who sings where) is strong and somewhat above average.