Steve Martin/Edie Brickell: Love Has Come For You

When I first saw a note about this album online, I had to do a double take as it seems like an odd pairing. Martin is a good banjo player, and has had a beautiful collaboration with the Steep Canyon Rangers over the past few years, resulting in two albums of new material. That work is good, if not great, and the personality of Martin—quirky, funny, oddball—is one of the reasons. He’s funny. He’s made a career of being funny. He’s never presented himself as a banjo virtuoso, and laudably has used his fame to shine a light on players who are, including the recipients of his annual banjo award, Noam Pikelny, Sammy Shelor, and Mark Johnson. If he doesn't make the greatest music in the world, it is good, and the playing is strong, something that the Steep Canyon Rangers have brought to the earlier projects. Live, Martin and the Rangers are a delight.

Review: God Didn't Choose Sides, Vol I

God Didn't Choose Sides Vol 1 is the first of a new series that touches on bluegrass, country, and roots music by writers such as Paula Breedlove, Mark Brinkman, Brad Davis, Ray Edwards, Mike Evans, Terry Foust, Steve Gulley and Tim Strafford, and performed by an all-star line-up including Marty Raybon, Russell Moore, Ronnie Bowman, The Lonesome River Band, Dale Ann Bradley, Steve Gulley, Carrie Hassler, Bradley Walker, Tim Stafford, and others. The songs are all new, but are rooted so deeply into American history that it's easy to forget that they're not songs from the Civil War period, rather they are about that period.

Review: Don Rigsby - Doctor's Orders

Don Rigsby has been around a while, and as such always seems to be there, not too far away. Many probably came across him for the first time in the movie Bluegrass Journey where he’s onstage with the Lonesome River band (in what some consider their best line up) at the IBMA’s and then later, in the hallway of the hotel at the conference, playing his heart out with Don Rigsby and Friends. Maybe we’d seen him in Lonesome River, but with the movie and the subtitles, he finally had a name.

Review: Junior Sisk & Rambler's Choice-The Story of the Day That I Died

If you are a fan of Junior Sisk and Rambler’s Choice, then you do not want to miss the latest album, The Story of the Day that I Died. From the first song to the last, Junior Sisk continues his great style of combining great singing with great songs.

From the first moment I put the album into my stereo, I played each and every song at least once, many numerous times in the course of a day and since. This album continues the bluesy, soulful, melancholy, straightforward but enjoyable bluegrass that has been the hallmark of his style for years.