Search - Al Murphy :: Through the Fields: Fiddle Tunes From Midwest

High energy on rarely played tunes

10/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a a resident of Iowa City, I'm lucky enough to see Al Murphy play fiddle regularly with a wide variety of better-known musicians such as Greg Brown and Dave Moore. He has been a "sidemain" on recordings by many great musicians . On this CD, Al is front and center and playing a super high-energy fiddle on a great selection of rarely played old-time, bluegrass and a little Irish. Al is backed by his wife Aleta on bass, Warren Hanlin on guitar, Joe Peterson on Mandolin and the amazing banjo of ex-Blue Grass Boy Bob Black. You can tell that they all had a very good time cutting this album/CD. I particularly like The Musical Priest, Best Old Coon Dog and Grand Valley Waltz but it's all truly wonderful music. This is the kind of CD where, when you put it on for a party, folks start asking, "Hey, who is this?""