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CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Arts & Entertainment
Sunday, December 11, 2005
THE YEAR’S BEST: RECORDINGS
Our Writers’ Top Albums by Genre
BLUEGRASS
PAST MEETS FUTURE IN BALANCING ACT
By David Royko
Special to the Tribune
The Bluegrass music world owes much of its vitality to the musical diversity of its practitioners and their collective comfort (and occasional discomfort) with maintaining the traditions of the past while forging ahead into innovative territory. These are some particularly exciting recordings that, together, exemplify the music’s balancing of the past with the future.
1. New Grass Revival: Grass Roots: The Best of New Grass Revival (Capitol, 2 discs)
By the time they wrapped up their 18-year run in 1989, New Grass Revival had become a supergroup featuring Sam Bush, Pat Flynn, John Cowan, and Bela Fleck. That lineup certainly justifies the now-standard appellation of "legendary," but this set succeeds in tracing the history of NGR from their shaggy-haired, revolutionary origins of the early ‘70s that featured the 20-year-old phenom—and co-founder—Bush, through to the group’s final concert. A generous and revealing dose of previously unissued studio and live tracks mingle with selections from each of their studio releases, making this a must-have for hard-core collectors as well as newbie New Grassers.
2. Jamie Hartford: Part of Your History—The Songs of John Hartford (New Sheriff)
Jamie Hartford gathered together a clutch of his father’s friends and favorite collaborators for this tribute to the unique musician who died in 2001. Even if one chooses to ignore the extra-musical elements, from a purely musical standpoint, the results are nearly magical, with musicians including Vassar Clements, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, David Grisman, Nanci Griffith, Tim O'Brien, Ronnie McCoury, Norman Blake, and Emmylou Harris delivering peak performances for their departed old buddy.
3. Psychograss: Now Hear This (Adventure Music America)
The only problem with Psychograss is that these guys don’t record more often. This quintet is responsible for some of the finest New Acoustic Music (the progressive, instrumental branch of the bluegrass tree) of the past decade, yet this is only their third release. Now Hear This proves once again that, when it comes to creating music that is simultaneously complex and challenging yet accessible and instantly appealing, Psychograss satisfies.
4. Kenny & Amanda Smith Band: Always Never Enough (Rebel)
The K&ASB includes two of the finest players in bluegrass—guitarist Kenny Smith and banjoist Steve Huber—and though this group can easily dazzle with their chops, the emphasis here is the songs and putting them across with an ear always bent toward beauty of sound. And though the band never forsakes drive, when Amanda Smith is singing, bluegrass doesn’t come much more beautiful.
5. Peter Feldmann: Grey Cat on the Tennessee Farm—Songs of Uncle Dave Macon (Hen Cackle Records)
Old-Time entertainer Macon (1870-1952) receives both a tribute and an overhaul by Feldmann and his Pea Patch Quintet of super-pickers (including Byron Berline, Dan Crary and Dennis Caplinger). The group evokes the huge personality of Macon as they interpret his music in an updated, bluegrass style.
6. Andy Statman: Flatbush Waltz (Rounder Archive)
One of the true masterpieces from Rounder’s first decade, this 1980 jazz-klezmer-worldgrass album is among the inaugural releases on the label’s Archive series, available as a download or as a mail-order CD. The one-of-a-kind Statman fuses the cross-picking of Jesse McReynolds with the atonal jabs of Albert Ayler, embodying like no other mandolinist jazz’s "sound of surprise."
7. Del McCoury Band: The Company We Keep (McCoury Music/Sugar Hill)
McCoury’s latest is another riveting album brimming with imaginative song selection, creative arranging, soulful soloing, giddy virtuosity, and high-lonesome bluegrass singing at its best.
8. Various Artists: Telluride Bluegrass Festival: 30 Years (Rounder)
The Telluride Festival has always stretched the boundaries of the definition of bluegrass to, or maybe past, the breaking point, but with music as good as this--from Hot Rize and Sam Bush to Nickel Creek and the Horseflies--who cares?
9. Various Artists: Clawhammer Banjo, Volumes 1-3 (County, 3 discs)
Three discs (available separately) of mainly solo, instrumental banjo might seem like overkill, but there is something special about this collection, most of which was recorded from 1965 to 1971. Clawhammer style is the precursor to the 5-string bluegrass picking that is now, for most people, synonymous with the instrument, but the older manner holds a power that has had a direct influence on performers as diverse as traditional bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley and Mark Johnson’s innovative "Clawgrass" projects.
10. Jesse McReynolds & Charles Whitstein: A Tribute to Brother Duets (Pinecastle)
Charles Whitstein and Jesse McReynold’s each lost the other half of their respective brother duets in 2001 and 2002, and instead of joining together simply to pay musical tribute to their brothers, they have widened the net to salute fellow brethren such as the Stanleys, Delmores, Louvins, Monroes, and the Blue Sky Boys. The music is extraordinary in its beauty and the emotional involvement of these veterans.
e-mail: ctc-arts@tribune.com
 
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