Northern California Bluegrass Society provides this CD review. You can find our most current reviews on our Message Board, where you can comment or query the author directly. Our monthly magazine, Bluegrass By the Bay also publishes them.

Songs:
River of Tears
Let’s Rekindle Our Love
It Amazes Me
Cold Dark Night
Graveside
Set Me Free
On My Way Home
Y2K
Hold On My Heart
Snow
She Was Dear To Me
I’m Callin’ Jesus

DS-CD-40004
Doobie Shea Records
PO Box 68
Boones Mill, VA 2406

Personnel:
Honi Glenn, lead vocals, bass
Jeremy Garrett, harmony vocals, fiddle
Glen Garrett, rhythm guitar
Randy Glenn, banjo

While it is unusual to be a bluegrass band from Idaho, it is perhaps even more unusual to be a band with two pairs of friends and two pairs of relatives. Honi Glenn and Jeremy Garrett met at a talent contest and Jeremy got Honi interested in singing bluegrass with Jeremy’s Dad, Glen, and his picking buddy, Randy Glenn. Randy and Glen met at the National Fiddlers Contest in Weiser and played together over the years though not in the same bands. Jeremy studied at South Plains College in the country music/bluegrass program and earned the Male Vocalist of the Year Award in 1996. After his return to Idaho from Texas, the four friends made a commitment to form a professional band.

Honi and Randy got married so now everyone was related or best friends. Honi now plays the bass and sings most of the leads in the band. Randy hails from Ohio and plays guitar and banjo. Glen is the band’s main guitarist and sometimes lead singer. Their win at the 1997 Plymouth Bluegrass festival led to their success at the Pizza Hut Bluegrass Showdown and was the springboard to their work on the festival circuits.

All of the songs on the CD are written by the band members and give the group a distinct and unique sound. Honi writes most of the group’s songs and her strong lead vocals have echoes of Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline. She can belt out fast-paced bluegrass songs like “Set Me Free” and “Cold, Dark Night” to four part gospel songs like “On My Way Home” and “I’m Calling Jesus.”

Jeremy also sings leads and his harmony vocals with Honi are one of the highlights of the group’s sound. “It Amazes Me” is another one of Honi’s love songs and could easily become a classic duet song for bluegrass bands. The instrumentation is top-rate and the fiddle and banjo licks and runs are all showcased on the instrumental Y2K. The group has great plans to bring its band bus to all the festivals from coast to coast and they shouldn’t be missed if they arrive at a festival near you.