The Infamous Stringdusters are composed of six incredibly skilled bluegrass musicians who have been playing with each other in various lineups for a long time and have been touring in this format for almost two years. Dobro player Andy Hall and fiddle player Jeremy Garrett, son of Glenn Garrett (former member of the Grasshoppers turned Christian musician), provide most of the songwriting and somewhat nasal but tightly harmonized vocals. Hall strikes me as the best all-around musician in the band, composing several of the band's better songs, such as the instrumental "No Destination," and contributing some stellar dobro work. The best instrumentalist is probably mandolinist Jesse Cobb, whose insane solos were somewhat toned down for Fork in the Road compared with those when I saw them live. As a fiddler myself, I listen with a far more critical ear to Garrett's playing, and though he is inarguably very good, and very well-versed in the idiom of bluegrass and jazz, he seems to keep coming back to a few of the same ideas until they seem gimmicky, such as off-rhythm triplets, syncopation a half-beat shy of the measure's beginning, and a lot of parallel fifth action. Not that there are any weak members in the band: all the members have excellent bluegrass credentials and several have excellent bluegrass DNA.The thing that I fear cripples otherwise brilliant progressive bluegrass bands such as Nickel Creek or the Yonder Mountain String Band is the dearth of songwriting ability, except to write cerebral and inaccessible songs which have little in common with a simple, solid bluegrass song. The Stringdusters' songs hold their own quite well in the bluegrass canon, balancing catchiness with musical integrity. Sometimes they can't quite restrain themselves and go off into Happy Jazz Land on tunes such as John Mayer's chord-change-laden "3x5" (who'da thunk it?) or the seven-and-a-third-minute jam aptly titled "Moon Man," but usually they can find ways to express their musical musings within the constraints of a more straightforward tune such as "Letter from Prison" or the jumping opener, "No More to Leave You Behind." All in all, this is a really good record, sitting in a comfy place between the traditionalism of Open Road and the decadence of the Grateful Dead.
Cadillac Sky is a five-piece bluegrass band out of Forth Worth, Texas, considered by many respectable musicians I know to be the hottest thing in bluegrass today. Their mandolin player, Bryan Simpson, is also their lead vocalist and writes most of their songs. (Perhaps I only noticed after learning this, but it sure seems like there are a lot of mandolin breaks.) They are a very tight unit, though the places they choose to take their tightness are not necessarily the same places I would take it if I ran the world. The majority of the songs on this record have occasional religious tones, and several are definitely gospel songs, which may be explained in part by the fact that they are signed to Skaggs Family Records, which is also the label for Cherryholmes, Mountain Heart, and, well, Ricky Skaggs, and which is not exactly renowned as a Mecca of pantheism. I love gospel, but except for "Sinners Welcome," which is really freakin' cool, the in-your-face religiosity of the lyrics, almost on the level of Christian rock, interferes somewhat with my enjoyment of the music. Even the straighter bluegrassy tunes seem to be leaning a bit towards the kneeslapping, single-idea, grotesquely unpoetic lyrics of modern country (cf. "Mountain Man" or "Can't Trust the Weatherman"). The words are probably the one place I take issue with this band.Instrumentally, they're on a par with the Stringdusters, though they delve much more rarely into the sideways scales and counterintuitive chord progressions of jazz. That's not to say, however, that they don't make use of opportunities to show their dexterity and ability. Their fiddler, Ross Holmes, is not only extremely skillful but wonderfully tasteful, and his breaks and fills are very enjoyable to listen for. (When I saw these guys live he went a bit crazier.) The singing is good, though the harmonies revolve primarily around Simpson, or sometimes guitarist Mike Jump, as the leader of the homophony. As I said, they are very tight, and their arrangements make a terrific use of rhythm to syncopate things unexpectedly and continually draw the listeners in. Their melodies are good, especially on the opener, "Born Lonesome" (which is the best tune on the record IMO), or the amusingly-titled instrumental "Neighborhood Bully's Long Look in the Mirror" (which is based off of a lick I swear I made up independently six months before hearing this record), but do not lend themselves to casual listening--you need to work to listen to Cadillac Sky, and you will probably find it rewarding.
Casey Driessen is a fiddle player who graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston, toured off and on with Tim O'Brien, which is who I heard him with briefly about a year and a half ago, and then started doing his own thing. His cover of Bill Monroe's classic, dark, grinding bluegrass tune "Jerusalem Ridge," with at least four and possibly five fiddle tracks laid over each other, appears on this CD and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Now I have heard a lot of cool things in my 16 illustrious years, and it would be hyperbole to say that Casey Driessen's "Jerusalem Ridge" is the coolest thing I've ever heard, but it isn't very much hyperbole. It is five minutes and forty seconds of complete and utter dark, grinding, jazzy, grassy, grooving, chopping, chocolatey goodness. Not to detract from the rest of the album, cause it's a great album, but "Jerusalem Ridge" is definitely the standout. Driessen plays 5-string fiddles and uses a lot of different mutes to get his desired sound. It's often electrified and usually has a drum kit of some sort, giving him a very modern and original sound which combines howling Appalachian fiddle tunes with sort of African and Latin influences. But electrified.Driessen appears on Homespun Tapes' Chops and Grooves DVD with Darol Anger (of the Turtle Island String Quartet, among other endeavors) and Rushad Eggleston (of Crooked Still), and his chopping and grooving is often in evidence on 3D, especially on "Jerusalem Ridge" and "Footsteps So Near." He is extemely progressive, but his sound is easier to listen to (for me) than Cadillac Sky or even the Infamous Stringdusters. The caliber of musicians he gets for this record is amazing: Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Darrell Scott, Tim O'Brien, and Victor Krauss. Sometimes he goes off, understandably, into Happy Jazz Land, but more often than not he has a terrifically dark and distinctive "Afro-Celt" sound going on. The quality and difficulty of his fiddle playing is almost secondary to the manner in which he composes and arranges things. Knowing the way "Jerusalem Ridge" is "supposed" to sound gives one an even greater appreciation for his incredible achievement with it; I am also partial to the fiddle-and-voice (Driessen's voice won't land him the position of rock-band frontman, but it's on the notes, well-phrased, and has a nice gravelly timbre) solo "Footsteps So Near," adapted, stunningly, from a waltz of the same name. "Sugarfoot Rag/Freedom Jazz Dance" is also very cool. So is "Sally in the Garden." Actually, it's all very cool. Basically you should just stop reading this blog and go buy this record.
This is just the beginning. Some other newgrass albums which I hope to review at a later date are Crooked Still's Shaken By a Low Sound, Yonder Mountain String Band's Town by Town, and Tim O'Brien and Darrell Scott's Real Time. Also, if I ever have any money to buy more music, I will probably purchase and end up reviewing Punch by Punch Brothers, The Road That Never Ends by Mountain Heart, and the Sparrow Quartet's first album--which apparently came out yesterday. Wow.
And, for the sake of objectivity, not to mention humor:
Bill Monroe: What do you boys call that music you play?
Courtney Johnson (original banjo player for NGR): Newgrass.
Bill Monroe: Yeah, I hate that.
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