Customer Reviews

Bluegrass 96

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Once a year Scott Vestal - one of the most gifted musicians on the planet who just happens to be a master of the 5-string banjo - gathers together a handful of other "super-pickers". The results are uniformly good. Wayne Benson of Third Tyme Out on mandolin. Super sessionman Aubrey Haynie on fiddle. Blue Highway's standout Rob Ickes on dobro. Guitar monster Jeff Autrey (currently with the John Cowan band). Mark Schatz on bass. These gifted musical gunslingers attack blistering breakdowns like J.D. "Crowe's Blackjack" and Monroe's "Roanoke" as well as beautiful, tasty traditional numbers like "St. Anne's Reel". Scott Vestal's banjo work is at LEAST as impressive as the somewhat higher profiled Bela Fleck, Alison Brown or Tony Furtado - and his chosen partners on these projects are up to his example in every respect. If there is any part of you that thinks - "boy, I'd REALLY like to hear the BEST Bluegrass pickers REALLY bearing down on some classic instrumentals", look no further than this album..... actually look at the others in the series - they are white-hot as well, but THIS one is my personal favorite for "hottest".

I see Mark Fowler has already said it all, so I'd just like to confirm what he says; in particular that this album is the best of the series (although they're all good). The others are:

Bluegrass '95
Bluegrass '97
Bluegrass '98
Bluegrass '99
Bluegrass 2000
Bluegrass 2001

and they cover just about every Bluegrass instrumental standard you can think of (no vocals).

Especial highlights here include Ralph Stanley's "Clinch Mountain Backstep", J.D. Crowe's "Blackjack", and Scott's own amazing "Up on the Blue Ridge".