Live at the Ragged Edge [CD on Demand]

Tom Adams

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 22, 2009)
• Original Release Date: March 23, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rounder
• ASIN: B0001LYGZ8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #165,498 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Tom Adams has been one of the most respected bluegrass banjoists for a generation, adding his talents to The Johnson Mountain Boys, The Lynn Morris Band, and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage. Michael Cleveland is one of the finest young fiddlers on the scene (and has already won the IBMA Fiddler of the Year award twice). Together they took over the intimate Ragged Edge music club for an unforgettable evening of virtuoso bluegrass duets. "This is the best seat in the house for what will be considered one of the greatest bluegrass performances of our time. Michael and Tom have delivered an amazing recording and a really good time. What I would've given to have been there." -Alison Krauss

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A playful live set by two bluegrass virtuosi, July 1, 2004

By	Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Banjo plunker Tom Adams is a veteran player who's been in quite a few high-powered bluegrass bands, including gigs with Jimmy Martin, Rhonda Vincent and the Johnson Mountain Boys, while fiddler Michael Cleveland is best known for his work with Dale Ann Bradley and Rhonda Vincent. Here they team up on a lively, often dazzling set of mostly-instrumental duets, zipping their way through around two dozen tunes, most of 'em played at a lightning pace on fiddle and banjo. The vocal material is nice, too -- in fact, an album highlight comes when Tom Adams flubs the lyrics on "Shady Grove," and improvises with the inspired line, "Blah, blah, blah..." Nice to sometimes see a few cracks in the super-musicianship of the bluegrass upper crust.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bluegrass, November 11, 2006

By	Amy K. Ewert (Saguache, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're looking up this album, you know who they are. The thing that is so exceptional and hasn't been mentioned here is this: the level of improvisation on this album is absolutely spectacular. Most bluegrass albums recorded in the studio have instrumental fireworks carefully thought out beforehand. On this live album Cleveland and Adams throw breaks back and forth with each one spiraling closer and closer to the edge of control; these guys don't know what the next lick to come from their fingers will be any more than you do. At the finest moments this album accomplishes the rare feat of having the player become invisible, an unconscious conduit for the music flowing from some unknown source, through the fingers and out into the air. A fantastic recording. If only more bluegrass recordings followed this aesthetic . . .

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely excellent Old Time-Bluegrass Pickin' and Fiddlin', January 2, 2006

By	Michael (Placerville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Tom Adams and Michael Cleveland are veteran masters of Banjo and Fiddle. If you are a veteran Old Time-Bluegrass listener or album collector, this is a must have gem of a CD. If you are a veteran musician with this music, you will appreciate playing along if you can keep pace as they fly through the songs. This is toe tappin' and foot stompin' American music at its best. It's a whole bunch of music through most of the CD from just two wonderfully gifted musicians.