Route 23

Amazon.com
Though there are no brothers by birth in this North Carolina bluegrass group, the imprint of the Louvins, the Stanleys, and even the Everlys in their harmonies suggests the reedy strength of blood ties. The quartet began as a side project for some members of Tift Merritt's band, who subsequently decided to devote their full creative energies to this acoustic offshoot. With songs of fishin' holes ("Make Some Pay") and old-time religion ("Take Heed"), the material of frontman/guitarist Dave Wilson evokes a rural South steeped in nostalgia. Yet there's a timelessness in the balladry of "Dark Clouds," "Louisiana Freight Train," and "Saro Jane," while the threat of the superhighway on the title track suggests a past that can never be recaptured. Best of all is "Arms of the Law," a cry-in-your-beer lament with a deadpan drollery ("You're in the arms of another/And I'm in the arms of the law") that's difficult to resist. A pair of instrumentals ("Gunfight in Durango" and "Sun Up") spotlight the lively interplay of John Teer on mandolin and fiddle, Chandler Holt on banjo, and Greg Readling on bass and pedal steel, while a bluegrass revival of the pop oldie "Born to Be with You" brings the band's second release to a rousing finale. --Don McLeese

Tracks:

Nowhere To Sleep
Dark Clouds
Route 23
Louisiana Freight Train
Gunfight In Durango
Engine No. 709
Parlour Light
Arms Of The Law
Sun Up
Take Heed
Ruination
Make Some Pay
Saro Jane
Born To Be With You

Amazon.com

Though there are no brothers by birth in this North Carolina bluegrass group, the imprint of the Louvins, the Stanleys, and even the Everlys in their harmonies suggests the reedy strength of blood ties. The quartet began as a side project for some members of Tift Merritt's band, who subsequently decided to devote their full creative energies to this acoustic offshoot. With songs of fishin' holes ("Make Some Pay") and old-time religion ("Take Heed"), the material of frontman/guitarist Dave Wilson evokes a rural South steeped in nostalgia. Yet there's a timelessness in the balladry of "Dark Clouds," "Louisiana Freight Train," and "Saro Jane," while the threat of the superhighway on the title track suggests a past that can never be recaptured. Best of all is "Arms of the Law," a cry-in-your-beer lament with a deadpan drollery ("You're in the arms of another/And I'm in the arms of the law") that's difficult to resist. A pair of instrumentals ("Gunfight in Durango" and "Sun Up") spotlight the lively interplay of John Teer on mandolin and fiddle, Chandler Holt on banjo, and Greg Readling on bass and pedal steel, while a bluegrass revival of the pop oldie "Born to Be with You" brings the band's second release to a rousing finale. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews:

Country folk with a big helping of bluegrass.......2005-09-22

This Raleigh, NC band is influenced by the string-band sounds of bluegrass, but their guitar-mandolin-banjo-fiddle-bass line-up is extended by touches of pedal steel and harmonica, and their harmonies are often more Everly-sweet than hill-country blue. These aren't criticisms so much as a suggestion of what distinguishes this group from their stage-mates at summer festivals. There's a lot of folk influence in Dave Wilson's songwriting, and the playing feels more back-porch relaxed than straight-ahead bluegrass combos; when they breakdown for an instrumental it's more like a cantering hootenanny than a hot-picked gallop.

The album's filled with great original songs that peer toward the future. "Nowhere to Sleep" seeks to resuscitate a relationship, "Louisiana Freight Train" dreams of the romance at rail's end, and "Arms of the Law" ponders the mental prison at the conclusion of a jail sentence. The album's title song is the set's highlight, a sad tale of those deserted by the "progress" of new highways; you can just about hear the tumbleweeds blowing along the Mother Road. The lone cover is a banjo-lined, harmony-rich version of Don Robertson's "Born to Be With You" that's scarcely recognizable as the mid-50s hit by The Chordettes. [©2005 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com]

Whew thats good!.......2005-08-27

Should be noted that these guys picked up the Best New Bluegrass Band award at Rockygrass Bluegrass Festival in 2004(personally a better festival than Telluride now). The title track hasn't left my head for days, along with the great track 'Saro Jane'. Definitely try and catch the CCL live show and pick up their first disc, a treat for the ears.

down home country.......2005-07-29

Somehow I expected something different from this album after reading reviews. It is a modest, rootsy country album with plaintive, emotional vocals. On the other hand, the playing is a bit rudimentary and the production by Chris Stamey is not up there with his best work. This young band has potential to be better than this. They also need to cheer up a little.

Takes bluegrass to an intriguing region of Americana.......2005-03-02

With their youthful exuberance and joyful spirit, Chatham County Line's second album, "Route 23" continues where their June, 2003 debut left off. The Raleigh, N.C. bluegrass quartet continues to feature guitarist Dave Wilson's lead vocals and prolific songwriting, along with. John Teer (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Chandler Holt (banjo, vocals), and Greg Readling (bass, pedal steel, vocals) who has apparently replaced bassist Ned DuRant. Readling, a very capable multi-instrumentalist known to friends simply as "G," appeared on CCL's debut album playing accordion and piano. Wilson's singer/songwriter and folk rock sensibilities are easily translated into strong contemporary folk-inspired bluegrass. On the title cut, Wilson paints a picture of a small town bypassed and left to languish after a new highway is routed around town. In some songs like "Nowhere to Sleep" and and "Make Some Pay," Wilson can be rather wry-witted. In another like "Louisiana Freight Train," he can tell a grievous story of abandonment. "Ruination" speaks to effects of outside influences, particularly evil forces. Holt's "Sun Up" and Teer's "Gunfight in Durango" demonstrate the band's prowess with original feisty banjo (with Scruggs tuners) and fiddle instrumentals. Guest Caitlin Cary provides harmony vocals on two cuts.

Despite the band's modernistic interpretation of bluegrass, they consider themselves "new traditionalists" because they have great admiration for the seminal tradgrass players, sounds and themes. With a vibrant signature sound, Chatham County Line's music is breaking down barriers between folk, country and bluegrass genres. Exuding confidence, the band has been seen with Arlo Guthrie at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Oklahoma. In their short time together, they also picked up the "Best New Bluegrass Band" award at RockyGrass in Lyons, Colorado. Obviously not wanting to be confined or restrained, this quartet takes bluegrass to an intriguing region of Americana. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

Average customer rating:

Ernie Thacker Backbone Job

Backbone Job
Ernie Thacker & Route 23
Manufacturer: Crosscut Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000N4P1AW

Product Description

1. Wild Horses 2. Miami, My Amy 3. Molly 4. To Late For Lovin' 5. Backbone Job 6. Rebecca 8. Six More Miles 9. Lonely And Blue 10. Worries And Troubles 11. Where There's A Will, There's A Way

Customer Reviews:

Ernie Thacker Backbone Job.......2007-02-01

Track Listings:

1. Wild Horses
2. Miami, My Amy
3. Molly
4. To Late For Lovin'
5. Backbone Job
6. Rebecca
8. Six More Miles
9. Lonely And Blue
10. Worries And Troubles
11. Where There's A Will, There's A Way

Average customer rating:

A bief encounter with Eileen Joyce.
Lightish selection, superbly played

Eileen Joyce

Manufacturer: Testament
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Etudes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Fugues | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Scherzo | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Airs | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Caprices | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000J84R
Release Date: 1999-06-08

Customer Reviews:

A bief encounter with Eileen Joyce........2002-06-06

Internet reviewers, so far, principally associate Australian pianist Eileen Joyce with the soundtrack of the Noel Coward/David Lean film "Brief Encounter". This fellow Australian, who heard her in performance and whose piano teacher knew her, welcomes this excellent CD which provides a first-rate memento of her work as a much recorded pianist of the 1930s.

Hardly a month went by between 1933 and the outbreak of World War Two without Eileen Joyce, still in her twenties, completing full and varied recording schedules. Her repertoire, as reflected in this CD, was extensive. If the so-called "salon items" were the best sellers, that was because she presented them tastefully. True, she was sometimes guilty of tasteless additions, as when she provides a bass note at the end of the Bach Prelude and Fugue (Track 1) that was an octave below the one Bach wrote, but she was not the only pianist of her time to take such liberties.

In their day, released on the Parlophone label, her records provided some of the best piano sound to be heard, and they still sound astonishingly realistic. Artistically, Eileen Joyce didn't scale the heights, nor did she probe the depths, but she could open pleasant sound vistas that could provide wonderful listening experiences. I welcome this CD as very good value indeed, even if only because it is one that I shall want to play and replay many times.

Lightish selection, superbly played.......1999-12-11

In some ways, I wish the choice of selection were more varied (on top of it, several selections of this CD overlap with the Pearl reissue). Eileen Joyce recorded many discs during the 1930s and 40s, including some larger Chopin works, as well as Brahms pieces. Just by looking at the context, one will likely to get an impression that Joyce was a supremely talented drawing room player. Which of course she isn't. Joyce was a superb pianist, with technique and musicianship that rival among the finest pianists. Her glittering passagework is evident everywhere, but so as poetic sensitivity. Hopefully there will be another reissue of Joyce coming up soon that does not overlap with the selection here (or the Pearl reissue). Joyce's recordings certainly deserves more attention than they have been getting up to now. In the meantime, this CD will do.

Music Album:

Music Album