BRYAN SUTTON
Ready To Go (Sugar Hill)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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If you've been paying any attention at all to contemporary country and bluegrass music, you've no doubt heard, and taken note of, the sound of Bryan Sutton's guitar and mandolin. Best known for his featured roll with Ricky Skaggs' Kentucky Thunder, he's also appeared on sessions with Aubrey Haynie, Jerry Douglas, Dolly Parton, and the Dixie Chicks, among others. Skaggs, Haynie, Douglas and Parton all turned out to help Sutton on his debut album as a leader, along with a solid crew of his fellow top session men. The result is as impressive a first album as I've heard in quite a while.

In addition to his stellar sidemen and his impressive chops, Sutton displays a considerable songwriting talent, penning five original instrumentals for the disc. When he turns to others for material, he shows expansive and excellent taste, drawing on the catalogs of Bill Monroe, Stephane Grappelli & Django Reinhardt, and George and Ira Gershwin, as well as traditional tunes. Topping it off is Dolly Parton's "Smoky Mountain Memories," written just for the occassion and featuring her own lead vocal.

This is one not to be missed, from an artist destined to hit the highest rungs of the ladder of musical success.

Track List:

Decision At Glady Fork * Blue Night * Brown County Breakdown * Highland Rim * When Love Comes To Town * Walk Among The Woods * Minor Swing * Tater Patch * Chief's Medley * Lady Be Good * Smoky Mountain Memories * The Good Deed

© 2000 - Shaun Dale