Customer Reviews

The Broken Road

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have both CD's by Jeff White and have had the opportunity to meet this man in person. He is so talented vocally and musically. The White album renewed my love in bluegrass music and his latest CD The Broken Road is just as great. I am glad that he did more of the songwriting this time around and I eagerly await anything else he comes out with. Don't waste time, buy this as soon as possible.

I haven't seen Jeff White in about 25 years...since high school graduation...but I heard that he had 'made it bigtime'... Well last night I was treated to a Jeff White concert in his hometown and I was more than impressed!! I listened to bluegrass a LONG time ago and more recently had become a fan of Allison Krauss (without knowing that Jeff had been in her band)... and listening to him last night rekindled my appreciation of this unique brand of music. Jeff White is the same REAL person he was when he left our hometown of North Manchester, IN some 20 years ago...and found his true musical love...don't miss this one!! It's from Jeff White's heart and it's for real!

Jeff White has done it again on this wonderful CD full of heartfelt Bluegrass music. I especially like "Lonesome as it gets","Cliffs by the sea" and "This Lonely Heart of mine".The last song penned by Vince Gill who provides background vocals on most of the songs on this CD. I look forward to Jeff's next project and want to thank him for introducing me to Bluegrass music!

Jeff White's "Broken Road" CD is great bluegrass fun for the whole family! The title tune has great banjo & fiddles with good lyrical depth, "In another rhelm where no one dwells, I wait here endlessly for another soul on this broken road to beckon faithfully*." Great banjo picking highlights the country "Lonesome As It Gets." "Stay Away From Me" is a fast pretty little tune. "Cliffs by the Sea" is a slow ballad with a beautiful fiddle part. Fast finger picking is the hallmark of "Rich Gal." There will be "hell to pay" if you "Bet On An Angel," a pretty uptempo melody. "Cheater's Heart" is a another pretty melody about a relationship breaking up, "Where do you turn when the road ahead is crumbling? What do you do when the love you knew is crumbling & you're left with a cheater's heart?" "The Struggle" is a slow sad country tune that makes me feel like I'm back in Iowa sitting in the Little Brown Church again, "One day I saw the Light & I knew I'd won the fight!" "This Lonely Heart of Mine" is a peppy tune with nice harmonies and some fierce mandolin pickin'. Perky fiddle in the bluegrass mode about a young person going away from home dresses up "I'll Make My Way." "I'm Not a Stranger to Love" is an aching slow tune followed by "I Wonder," a midtempo toe tapper. "The Only Girl" is a pretty banjo-picking love song. Jeff's set closes with a spooky ballad with some great manodlin, "The Fiddle in the Trees." Jeff's music is good quality bluegrass, well-scrubbed fun you can play with your kids in the car.

*I couldn't quite tell if he was singing "faithfully" or "fatefully," but I chose the former! :)

Broken Road is a disappointment to any hard core bluegrass fan in search of crisp acoustic guitar instrumentals or compelling and original songs. The lyrics are forced and cliche'd and the tunes are eminently forgettable, and the producers have smothered whatever originality is present with the dobro whinings of Jerry Douglas.