LONGVIEW
High Lonesome (Rounder)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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It's taken four years for Longview to release the follow up to their debut album, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone familiar with the players involved. Between them, you'll find some of the finest and most in demand pickers around, who've made their marks as members of groups like the Johnson Mountain Boys, J.D. Crow & The New South, the Seldom Scene, Bill Monroe and Jim & Jesse, and in the studio for countless sessions with those and other acts.

Dudley Connell (guitar), Glen Duncan (fiddles), Joe Mullins (banjo), Don Rigsby (mandolin) and Marshall Wilborn (bass) are the cream of the bluegrass crop. Toss in James King for lead vocals on a half dozen tracks and, well, if this isn't the best damn bluegrass band around these days, it's close enough that not many would notice.

When you apply all this talent to a set of songs that range from a Rigsby original to Stanley Brother's classics, with everything in between every bit as good, well, you've got a recording that belongs on the shelves of everyone who loves traditional bluegrass music. Check that. It doesn't belong on those shelves at all. It belongs in their players. On repeat. Immediately.

Track List:

Windy Mountain * High Lonesome * Leavin' Tennessee * Listen To My Hammer Ring * I'll Love You 'Til The Day I Die * Angels Are Singing (In Heaven Tonight) * I'm Going Home Again * Just Wondering Why * Voice Of My Savior * Little Annie * Where The Dim Lights Are The Dimmest * He'll Save Your Soul Yet * Does It Have To End This Way? * Ballad Of Maudie Dawson

© 1999 - Shaun Dale