SAM BUSH
Ice Caps - Peaks Of Telluride (Sugar Hill)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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For a quarter of a century, as a founding member of the New Grass Revival and beyond, Sam Bush has been one of the presiding spirits at the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Of course, with Sam around, Bluegrass can be mutated in a thousand and one directions, and there are mutations aplenty on this new disc, which documents his Telluride appearances throughout the 1990s.

These are all post-Newgrass performances, but Bush's Newgrass bandmates Bela Fleck and John Cowan appear on a number of tracks. Other notable contributors include Jerry Douglas, Larry Atamanuik, Jon Randall Stewart, John Magnie, Darrel Scott and Sam's alter ego, the noted electric mandolinist Jeffro Beck. Can you say "all-star lineup?" I knew that you could.

The only way to make these guys even better is to match them up with great material, and there's plenty of that, too. Consider some of the songbooks Bush dips into for Telluride tunes. Bob Dylan, Bill Monroe, Sonny Landreth, John Hiatt, Van Morrison, Lowell George and Leon Russell are just some of the songwriters represented, along with healthy portions of Bush originals.

Great players, great songs, one of the truly great venues - what more could you hope for? 16 more tracks of the same real soon might do it, and you know there's a lot more where these came from. Meanwhile, this is a good un'. It's one of those CDs that make me glad the LP era has passed, because I'd have worn it out by now.

Track List:

Pastor Mustard: Introduction * Girl Of The North Country * Big Mon * Same Ol' River * Angel To Be * Speak Of The Devil * Memphis In The Meantime * Spooky Lane * The Ice Caps Are Melting * Lee Highway Blues * Pastor Mustard: Heen * Hungry For Your Love * Sailin' Shoes * I Put A Spell On You * Celebrate * Stingray

© 2000 - Shaun Dale