Customer Reviews

Cool, Blue and Lonesome: Bluegrass for the Broken-Hearted

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I am the kind of person who really likes music samplers with various artists. In our hectic world today, the clock only has so many hours each day for listening to music. It is with open arms that I welcome products like Sugar Hill's second installment in their Cool, Blue compilation series. As one of the premier bluegrass music labels, Sugar Hill features some of the best artists around. For a nice tasting of some wonderful songs full of heartbreak, pick up this album. You certainly won't be sorry. In fact, hearing all these sad and blue, "you've been untrue" songs actually make me happy. You'd think that "love-gone-bad" and "so-lonely-I'm-mad" songs would have the opposite effect, but those that know bluegrass music realize that it's highly emotional music that often makes you feel better about your own cards that you've been dealt in life. It was Bill Monroe who once referred to bluegrass music as heartfelt music, and this album includes four songs written by the father of this genre (one of the fastest growing in popularity at present). This album includes 18 wonderful cuts of bluegrass (an excellent value!) from artists like Larry Cordle, Doyle Lawson, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Boone Creek, Alan Bibey, Don Rigsby, Hot Rize, Kathy Kallick, Laurie Lewis, Seldom Scene, Lonesome River Band, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Osborne Brothers, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Jim Mills, Tim and Mollie O'Brien, Mike Auldridge. It makes me want to run out and pick up every single individual album that has been sampled here.
--by Joe Ross, moderator/reviewer for "Nwbluegrass"

I actually bought this CD without knowing who the various artists were on it. I liked the titles of some of the songs on the back cover. I literally opened up a treasure trove of songs. While all of the songs tell of broken hearts, lost loves, some are "lonesome and blue", some at a faster pace. Never does this CD drag. All the cuts are absolutely wonderful with a wide array of bluegrass greats. All accoustic, all bluegrass. It is one of my very favorite CD's and I highly recommend it to bluegrass nuts like myself and people who are just getting interested in the bluegrass sound. If you've followed bluegrass for any length of time, you will recognize most of these voices. My favorite cuts: Mis'ry River, Close By, Walk the Way the Wind blows, Used to be, and the hauntingly beautiful 18th cut "Another Lonesome Day". Kick back and enjoy.

The project awesome and everything that my friend, Jeannie Gentry, said was right on!

I drove from Memphis to Nashville, Tn recently and played it all the way there and back. A 400 mile roundtrip.

Never have I been so addicted to a CD. This one is a road-trip life saver. I have been through 2 copies given to me, so now I'm going to buy the real thing. My favorite pic on this one has got to be 'Can't you hear me calling' Thanks to whomever produced this fabulous compilation of today's bluegrass!