ok so back to Cherryholmes – they are a family band – yes unbeknown to me they are a family band consisting of:
Sandy Lee (Mom) on mandolin
Jere (Dad) on upright bass
Cia (26) on banjo who writes 75 percent of the bands songs and provides most of the lead vocals
B.J. (21) on fiddle and mandolin, lead and harmony vocals
Skip (20) on guitar
Molly (17) on fiddle
Together they are a wonderful band playing some great music with roots in bluegrass, Celtic and jazz! Recording on Skaggs Family Records the album I listened to Cherryholmes II Black and White is a great album with a lot of great vocals and some phenomenal picking! Some of the more outstanding tracks include: “Don’t Give Your Heart To A Knoxville Girl”, the swingy “Darkness on the Delta”. Two of the tracks that stood out on the first listen were the instrumentals “The Nine Yards” featuring Rob Ickes on dobro and “Bootstrap Bill” (Think I like instrumentals) and the closing track Greedy Hands featuring Ricky Skaggs and Rob Ickes! But as always all the tracks are good!! A really good find and I an certainly going to check out their other albums!! Here’s a great article about the family band from Puremusic
The second album that I listened to today was Audie Blaylock and Redline 2009 self titled release. Redline is a group of exceptional musicians and vocalists that include: on mandolin and vocals, Matthew Wallace on bass and vocals, Evan Ward on banjo and vocals, and Patrick McAvinue on fiddle. Here’s some bio information on Audie from his website:
Four-time IBMA Guitar Player of the year candidate, Audie Blaylock has performed with some of bluegrass music’s most distinguished acts over the years including the great Jimmy Martin and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage as well as doing session work that earned him a Grammy® nomination for Best Bluegrass Album and an IBMA nomination for Recorded Event of the Year for” A Tribute to Jimmy Martin: The King of Bluegrass.” This group project included Audie Blaylock on guitar and vocals along with a stellar lineup of musicians including former Sunny Mountain Boys J.D. Crowe, Paul Williams, and Kenny Ingram. He has also performed with the legendary Red Allen, The Lynn Morris Band and songwriting great Harley Allen. Audie Blaylock and Redline had the honor of being nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year award in both 2005 and 2006
Multi-Grammy® Award winner Carl Jackson wrote in the liner notes “…This new project by Audie Blaylock and Redline is not only “bluegrass”… its GREAT bluegrass… no argument… end of discussion!!! I was blown away by the professionalism of Audie’s performance at IBMA Fanfest this past year and this album further confirms that he is a force to be reckoned with in the world of bluegrass music for years to come.”
The album is a traditional bluegrass album with some nice songs and some good picking.
I like “Roll on Blues” and “Lonely River”, and the opening track “Whispering Waters” and several others. So while to me it;s not great it’s certainly worth several listens!
The last album I listened to today and only briefly was Gravity’s Our Enemy by Cadillac Sky
overall I haven’t listened to it enough to know the tracks yet but I like the vocals and the instrumental track playing now “The Majestic Swan” sounds good. A few more listens and I’ll tell you what I think!