North Carolina sibling duo the Avett Brothers return in 2009, fresh off a few years of building a cult following for its melodic and rootsy alt-bluegrass sound, with the subdued I AND LOVE AND YOU. The opening single and title track basks in piano-pop splendor in an odd mix of Beach Boys, Byrds, and the Band.

The Avett Brothers continue charting the same musical course as EMOTIONALISM and MIGNONETTE on major-label debut I AND LOVE AND YOU, despite the presence of hands-on producer Rick Ruben. The country-folk duo continue to add elements of pop and hillbilly rock to a country/bluegrass foundation on the 2009 LP, a record with a newfound emphasis on piano and nuanced arrangements. Working with a larger budget allows the group to add small flourishes -- a cello line here, a keyboard crescendo there -- but the resulting music is rarely grand, focusing on textures rather than sheer volume. Scott and Seth Avett share vocals throughout the album, delivering their lyrics in a speak-sing cadence that sounds both tuneful and conversational. Given the opportunities presented here -- the ability to flank their melodies with string sections, organ swells, and harmonium -- the two devote more focus to slower songs, eschewing the barnburning bouncefests of their previous albums for material that better displays such sonic details. The result is an intimate, poignant album, laced with rich production that enhances, not clouds, the songwriting itself. ~ Andrew LeaheyRolling Stone (p.81) -

3.5 stars out of 5 -- "I AND LOVE AND YOU is packed with complex, piano-based beauties." Spin (p.90) - "The have always evoked the Band's MUSIC FROM BIG PINK, but this album's epic sweep and dramatic lyrical imagery enlarges that influence to the scale of arena-rock sing-alongs." Billboard (p.84) - "[T]he song 'Heart Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise' is a swelling epic with a title to match..."


  Speed Of Life CD
  by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Our Price: $15.05 CD / $9.99 MP3
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Speed of Life is the first studio album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in five years and celebrates the group's 43rd anniversary with three of its original members still intact (and no, the number 43 was not a typo). It also finds them reduced once more to a quartet with the departure of multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Ibbotson. That said, the band has lost none of its immediacy, power, or expert presentation of both original material and songs from some of Nashville's finest. Released by Sugar Hill Records (who distributes their NGDB Records imprint), the group recorded the set live in the studio. Produced by veterans George Massenburg and Jon Randall Stewart. This set sounds inspired, fresh, and like the NGDB has been utterly rejuvenated.

- "There's a simplicity to the music that's refreshing in today's overproduced, oversampled world...the production is warm and inviting..."


  Time Stands Still CD
  by Chris Smither
Our Price: $12.99 CD
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Personnel: Chris Smither (vocals, acoustic guitar).
Audio Mixers: David "Goody" Goodrich; Mark Thayer.
Recording information: Signature Sounds Studios, Pomfret, CT.
Photographer: Jeff Fasano.
Unknown Contributor Role: Chris Smither.
Arranger: Chris Smither.Dirty Linen

"TIME STANDS STILL was recorded in just three days, and it does have that wonderful spontaneous, stripped-down, easy, and relaxed atmosphere that recording artists strive for."


  Family Circle CD
  by Del McCoury
Our Price: $11.45
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Personnel: Del McCoury (vocals); Rob McCoury (banjo); Ronnie McCoury (mandolin); Alan Bartram (upright bass). Stalwart bluegrass godfather Del McCoury released FAMILY CIRCLE six months after unleashing a 50-track career retrospective (with newly recorded songs, no less).

His first collection of non-gospel material since 2005, FAMILY CIRCLE featured new material penned by the likes of Ronnie Bowman, Jim Lauderdale, Mark Knopfler, Billy Smith, and Shawn Camp played to perfection by Del, sons Rob and Ronnie, fiddler Jason Carter, and bass player Alan Bartram.

Like all McCoury releases, his latest sounds like the work of a band in its prime (Del was 70 at the time of recording), and while it may follow the bluegrass template to the letter. It's a note worth reading, studying, and ultimately passing along to others.

  Three Score & Ten: A Voice To The People, 70 Years Of The Oldest Independent Record Label In Great Britain CD - Import
  by Compilation Box Set
Our Price: $68.85 CD
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(7-CD set) "Three Score & Ten - A Voice To The People" is a fitting eulogy to Topic Records - Britain's premier folk music label and the oldest truly independent record label in the world. Seven CDs, 144 tracks, in a ten by ten inch hardback book container.

Liner Note Author: David Suff.
Photographers: Miles Evans; Saffron Summerfield; Dave Peabody; Jeff Teague; Keith Morris; Peter Kennedy; Robin Morton; Tom Howard; Tony Engle.

Record Collector (magazine) (p.95) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[F]olk music always will be, the voice to (and of) the people. Topic, more than most, made sure that voice was heard."


  Live CD
  by Alison Krauss
Our Price: $14.89 CD
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LIVE won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. "Cluck Old Hen" won for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Given Alison Krauss' tremendous popularity and her status as the first female bluegrass singer to cross over into genuine pop marketability, and given the fact that her guitarist, Dan Tyminski, is the voice behind "Man of Constant Sorrow" (or at least the version that served as an idée fixe in the blockbuster movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?), a live album was inevitable.

That it should be a two-disc set can simply be chalked up to good luck. Unless you're a bluegrass purist, that is, looking for music that preserves the traditional Appalachian sounds of Ralph Stanley and Bill Monroe. Listeners of that mindset will be bitterly disappointed by the presence of modern singer/songwriter fare ("Lucky One," "Let Me Touch You for a While"), by the drums on "Oh, Atlanta," and, most of all, by those dreadful call-and-response vocals on the chorus of "Man of Constant Sorrow" (which, you can hear them sniff, Tyminski takes at about twice the appropriate speed).

Rolling Stone (12/12/02, p.98) - "...Krauss delivers more acoustic country ballads and charming uptempo songs..." Uncut (2/03, p.77) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...If 2001's NEW FAVOURITE was a high watermark, LIVE is its perfect complement.


  Live In '65 CD
  by Pete Seeger
Our Price: $14.80 CD
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Personnel: Pete Seeger (vocals, whistling, 12-string guitar, banjo).
Liner Note Author: Jim Musselman

  See all the BLUEGRASSS Music CDs Here