Search - Various Artists :: Knee Deep in Bluegrass

Before this CD, AcuTab was known for its bluegrass tablature transcription books, but now it seems it may have a future in recordings as well. Conceived by AcuTab president John Lawless, the simple idea behind this project was to grab a varied bunch of musicians featured in the company's books and throw them together in a studio. The supremely talented men who contribute to these 14 songs may not be known to casual bluegrass fans, but they will be very familiar to hard-core fans who've been following the genre's development since the '90s. Blue Highway's guitarist Tim Stafford spearheaded the music and welcomed standouts from across the bluegrass world. Highlights are plentiful: Stafford and the Lonesome River Band's Kenny Smith offer a tasteful guitar duet on "Angeline the Baker." Terry Baucom's title track is a burning, straightforward breakdown boasting hot licks from Baucom on banjo, Alan Bibey's mandolin, Stafford's guitar, and Ron Stewart's fiddle. Stewart and banjo man Sammy Shelor (also of the Lonesome River Band) enjoy a blistering romp through "Turkey in the Straw." Two eclectic banjo pickers, Tony Trischka and Scott Vestal, offer suitably crafty instrumentals that still maintain the down-home spirit of the affair while veteran five-stringers Alan Munde (leading a quintet through "Four Leaf Clover") and Pete Wernick (on a solo reading of "Little Liza Jane") produce jaunty little gems as well. --Marc Greilsamer