Traditional Ties

Hot Rize | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 18, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sugarhill
• ASIN: B000000EZP
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,959 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars + 1/2 Stars...Superb Traditional Bluegrass, January 4, 2002

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Traditional Ties (Audio CD)

After several albums of excellent traditional bluegrass on the Flying Fish label, this was 1985's debut release for Sugar Hill. As the title implies, the band doesn't alter its approach here. Fully half of the songs are traditional ("Hear Jerusalem Moan," "Lost John," "Leather Britches," "Working on a Building," "John Henry" and "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning") with one Flatt and Scruggs classic ("If I Should Wander Back Tonight"). Among the remaining five numbers, all but one ("Montana Cowboy") are band originals. Peter Wernick co-wrote the instrumental "Frank's Blues," which gives him and the late Charles Sawtelle the opportunity to shine on banjo and guitar respectively. Lead singer Tim O'Brien (fiddle, mandolin) wrote "Hard Pressed," "Walk the Way the Wind Blows" (later a huge hit for Kathy Mattea the following year), and "Footsteps So Near" (the latter co-written with bass player Nick Forster). Hot Rize would release a few more albums before breaking up in the early Nineties, with O'Brien having the highest profile solo career. But for more than a decade, these guys produced some solid bluegrass (and old-timey country as their alter egos Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers), and this album is one of their best. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED