Search - Dan Crary :: Take a Step Over

Power-Picking from one of today's masters

Robert Haight | Burlington, Kansas | 08/03/1998

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Dan Crary, best known for his work with Berline, Crary & Hickman, is one of the cleanest power-pickers on today's scene, along with Tony Rice. The vocals are OK, especially if you like baritone voices (he often plays a special long-necked Taylor that is tuned lower for his vocal range) but that's not why he's in demand in studios. Like Doc Watson, his showpieces are fiddle tunes transposed to guitar. "Bugle Call Rag" and his medleys are played with dazzling speed and his trademark power runs - no tentative notes, just the pure confident hard licks at hand-blurring speed that won the national flat-picking championship. The last track, "Build me a cabin" is probably the best vocal on the album, a slower gospel number that lets your heart rate return to normal..."