The inaugural Mountain Song at Sea, a bluegrass festival on the ocean, just added the Punch Brothers to a line-up that already includes the David Grisman Sextet, Del McCoury Band, Steep Canyon Rangers, Tim O’Brien and Bryan Sutton, the Kruger Brothers, Peter Rowan, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, The Travelin’ McCourys, Shannon Whitworth, Della Mae and Town Mountain. The cruise…
Tag: bluegrass music
Review: David Naiditch’s Douce Ambiance: Gypsy Jazz Classics
By Joe Ross My first introduction to chromatic harmonica came as a young teenager in the 1960s when I picked up a Music Minus One LP called Blues and All That Jazz featuring world famous harmonica virtuoso Cham-Ber Huang from Shanghai and New York. While many learn harmonica by ear, Mr. Huang’s material was bonafide instruction that brought me many…
Review: Bill Monroe 100th Year Celebration: Live At Bean Blossom
By Joe Ross – A CD sampler of live cuts from a bluegrass festival can rarely capture the real feeling and spirit of those special musical moments when bands play their hearts out to thousands of fans. However, second best to actually being there, some favorite LPs of mine were those double-disc sets with an array of professional bluegrass bands…
Review: Carolina Road’s “Back to My Roots”
By Joe Ross It’s been about five years since I reviewed Carolina Road’s two releases on Tom T. Hall’s Blue Circle Records label. I found the hardworking band from North Carolina to be fully dedicated to presenting a traditional bluegrass sound with a copious amount of contemporary charisma. Now associated with Rural Rhythm Records, Back to My Roots is the band’s…
Review: Mary Z. Cox -“Girl with the Banjo Tattoo”
By Joe Ross – Mary Z. Cox is an accomplished player, teacher (and collector) of banjos and mountain dulcimers. At last count, she has 17 banjos and 12 dulcimers. The Florida-based artist’s seventh album, Girl with the Banjo Tattoo is a solo project with Mary playing one or two instruments on each of the 14 tracks. On one cut, “Chickens…