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| Liner Notes Because of my long history and interest in bluegrass I have had the good fortune of being asked to write liner notes for bluegrass CDs. I have enjoyed interviewing and getting to know these artists, and putting together pieces that I hope are reflective of their talents. I have written liner notes for Open Road; the Sawtooth Mountain Boys; Tab Tabscott's Resophonics Anonymous; the Bluegrass Brothers; and the Ohop Valley Boys. I have given an overview of these groups here. The actual liner notes are presented at the associated links where I have, in some cases, included sound samples. -Barry  Open Road, "In the Life" In the early 2000s Jen and I attended the Wolf Mountain Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley California. Now defunct, the festival was a little gem, situated as it was among the giant Sierra ponderosas and focused on traditional bluegrass. When we first got there it was before most folks had arrived. After settling in we wandered around and, in the dusky twilight we heard a young man singing a Mac Martin song. The voice was soulful and expressive. We were immediately captivated and discovered the young man was Bradford Lee Folk, leader of a new group, Open Road, from Fort Collins, Colorado. In the next few days we were treated to some exceptional traditional music from this group, and felt we were witnessing the flowering of an up and coming bluegrass talent. The group was not only solid musically, particularly with Folk's superb original pieces, but entertaining as well. Mandolinist Caleb Roberts and Folk had a great chemistry, and we were tickled with their humor as much as moved by their music. I became friends with the band, and a few years later they asked me to write the liner notes for their Rounder Records release, "In the Life." Unfortunately, after achieving some national notoriety, the group disbanded. The liner notes I wrote are an embellishment of the impressions I received at Wolf Mountain.  Tab Tabscott, et al. "Resophonics Anonymous" Tab, a Washington state resident and musician, put together this interesting collection of resophonic guitar ("dobro") pieces featuring northwest musicians. Visit Tab's website for more information about the resophonic guitar. Bluegrass Brothers, "Memories of the Blue Ridge" One of my very favorite bluegrass groups, the Bluegrass Brothers will curl the hair in your nostrils with their high-powered, full bore, traditional approach to the music. Composed of two brothers, Victor and Robert Dowdy, and two of Victor's sons, Steve and Donald (at this writing) they hit the deck running and never let up -- except for some wonderfully rendered ballads and country pieces. I met them at a music convention in Louisville, Kentucky and have been a big fan ever since.  Ohop Valley Boys, "Carolina Reflections" The Ohop Valley Boys are a popular bluegrass band from Washington state. They have been performing since the 1990s in various configurations and have a very professional, tight, traditional approach to the music. I wrote the liner notes to this album, and I feel it is one of the better CDs they have issued. Each one of the members is a bluegrass picking fanatic, and when they aren't performing on stage at bluegrass festivals, you can find them jamming somewhere in the campground. | |
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