Reviews

COUNTRY MUSIC USA: 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION By BILL C. MALONE AND TRACEY E.W. LAIRD Univ. Of Texas Press 9781477315347. Hardcover, 768 pp., 63 b&w photos, $45. (Univ. of Texas Press, 3001 Lake Austin Blvd., 2.200, Stop E4800, Austin, TX 78703, www.utexaspress.com.) This tome has long been held as thereference on country music. It has been used…

THE EARLS OF LEICESTER LIVE AT THE CMA THEATER IN THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME Rounder Records 1166100425 With the bluegrass genre being the way it is at times, the battle over the heart of the original bluegrass sound never ends. Roots and branches of the genre keep the music alive and interesting, yet…

GEORGE McCLURE FREEDOM TRAIN JIP Records JIP-5327 George McClure is back on track with Freedom Train, a nine-song collection of some of his favorite bluegrass songs from his road warrior days in the ’90s. “As a prolific writer, I have literally hundreds of bluegrass songs and instrumentals,” McClure said. “I had some of the more popular…

HOT RIZE 40th ANNIVERSARY BASH: AN ALL-STAR BLUEGRASS CELEBRATION Ten in Hand Records THR-9002-3 Hot Rize is a band we keep coming back to and with much success. Over 40 years ago, Tim O’Brien, Pete Wernick, Nick Forster, and Charles Sawtelle came from parts East to the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Colorado, found each other,…

BOBBY BRITT ALAYA No Label No Number If you’ve ever heard Town Mountain play live in recent years, then you’ll know they’re on fire and that their fiddler Bobby Britt is one of the best in the business. From Chapel Hill, N.C., and an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music, Britt can take a…

THE JAKOB’S FERRY STRAGGLERS POISON RIVER No Label No Number When The Jakob’s Ferry Stragglers first appeared on my radar, the western Pennsylvania band had just released their debut CD The Lane Change, which straddled the line between bluegrass and old-time with a strong emphasis on original material. Two albums later, PoisonRiverstill has dual lead singers Gary…