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Songs:
Lonesome Wind
Angeline the Baker
Knee Deep in Bluegrass
Benny McCoy
Turkey in the Straw
Carter's Blues
Buffalo Creek
Pretty Boy Floyd
Golden Slippers
By Stealth
Home Run Man
Four Leaf Clover
Little Liza Jane
Daddy's Dream

Rebel/Acutab Productions
REB-CD-1759
P.O. Box 7405
Charlottesville, VA 22906

Personnel:
To many to mention, but including - Barry Bales, Butch Baldassari, Terry Baucom, Wayne Benson, Alan Bibey, Ronnie Bowman, Jason Moore, Joe Mullins, Alan Munde, Mark Newton, Alan O'Bryant, Sammy Shelor, Kenny Smith, Adam Steffey, Ron Stewart, Tony Trischka, Dan Tyminski, Scott Vestal, Pete Wernick, Rob Ickes, Tim Stafford

This multi-artist project is a joint venture between Rebel Records and Acutab Publications, the Virginia-based company that publishes tabulature books of today's top bluegrass pickers. Organized by Acutab CEO John Lawless, it's primarily a showcase of the various artists that have been associated with Acutab over the years.

Most of the songs are instrumentals, with four vocal songs to add some variety. The style is primarily contemporary bluegrass, and it goes without saying that the performances are top-notch. No B-grade leftovers from other band projects - these are solid contributions from many of today's hot pickers.

"Lonesome Wind" is a haunting, medium tempo song sung by Ronnie Bowman and Dan Tyminski, and with Sammy on banjo and Kenny on guitar it's classic Lonesome River Band. Tim Stafford and Kenny Smith reprise "Angeline the Baker" as a guitar duet, and then Terry Baucom performs an up-tempo contemporary, Rebecca-like banjo tune called "Knee Deep in Bluegrass" with Alan Bibey on a fiery mandolin.

"Benny McCoy" is a tragic murder tale sung by Alan O'Bryant (very cool song), and then Sammy Shelor and Ron Stewart nail "Turkey in the Straw" as a banjo/fiddle duet. Butch, Wayne, and Alan trade mandolin licks on a bouncy version of "Carter's Blues", and then Tony Trischka contributes an upbeat, crookedy banjo tune called "Buffalo Creek," joined by Adam Steffey and Ron Stewart. Tim Stafford sings the Woody Guthrie classic "Pretty Boy Floyd", and it sounds great with a simple guitar/dobro backup by Tim and Rob Ickes. Butch, Wayne, and Alan then do another triple mandolin/mandola interpretation of "Golden Slippers."

Scott Vestal contributes one of his traditional-yet-complex banjo originals, with Wayne Benson, Rob Ickes and Tim Stafford keeping up on the mandolin, dobro, and guitar respectively. Mark Newton and Dan Tyminski then sing the Jimmy Martin song "Home Run Man", and Alan Munde does a gorgeous version of "Four Leaf Clover" on the banjo that is perhaps the best track on the album.

Pete Wernick couldn't make it to Nashville for the recording session, so he recorded a solo version of "Little Liza Jane" back in Colorado. The last song is another banjo instrumental tune called "Daddy's Dream" with Sammy, Adam, Ron, and Tim blasting away.

What can I say - it's hard to miss with such an assortment of stellar musicians. If you like the contemporary bluegrass instrumentals and vocal songs that you would typically find on a Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Tyme Out, Alison Krauss, or Blue Highway album, you'll like this CD. No weird progressive tunes here - just straight-ahead tunes with a modern twist. I can only imagine the jam sessions they had when they made this recording…