Ok so before I was so rudely interrupted by the end of the day and the need for sleep, I was boring you all with what bluegrass albums I listened to yesterday! The second album I listened to was Sam Bush’s Circles Around Me. Now I’ve always enjoyed Bush’s pickin’ whether it be as part of New Grass Revival (“Can’t Stop Now” is an all-time favorite), solo (Ice Peaks), or just as a session musician like on Dan Fogelberg‘s High Mountain Snow album). Now as for his vocals well he’s no John Cowan but then who is! No seriously his vocals are fine! Anyway I listened to this album twice yesterday and like norma,l the first time through I thought it was just ok (so says the man who didn’t like the Cheers theme song the first time he heard it and hasn’t heard the end of that!) but the second time through I guess I listened more closely and came away impressed! The album has some strong pickin’ on several instrumental tracks mixed nicely with some good vocal performances!
Top tracks for me included the instrumentals “Old North Woods”, “Junior Heywood” and “Blue Mountain” where I thought Sam was at his mandolin pickin’ best! The top vocal tracks included Roll On, Buddy, Roll On”, ” The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle” and “Souvenir Bottles” which I think is one of the best tracks on the CD!
Here’s Sam performing Blue Mountain:
Blue Mountain by The Sam Bush Band. This footage was recorded at and belongs to The Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour in Lexington, KY.
For more information about Woodsongs, go to http://www.woodsongs.com/showlist.asp
And click on show #553