There's an air of serious artistry and soulful focus in this veteran bluegrass guitarist and singer's latest recording with the New Shades of Grass. As is the rule in bluegrass, the instrumental mastery is everywhere apparent, but what distinguishes this effort, a comeback for Waldron, are the raw, touching vocals and the timelessness of the material, from writers like Tim Hardin, Dolly Parton, Carter Stanley, and the Louvin Brothers. Like Ralph Stanley, Waldron has a natural sense for what matters in a song and in a performance--the emotional resonance, the driving need to sing with all the history inside him. --Roy Francis Kasten