Tricopolis Records-CD Reviews

Goin' Across The Sea
Suzanne
Soldiers Joy
All Because Of Me
Somewhere Between
Rough Edges
I'll Meet You In The Morning
Free As A Bird
Tombstone Junction
Carolina Smoky Mountain Home
Sure Fire
Philadelphia Lawyer
Four Hundred Miles Of Four Lane Highway
Final Crossing

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It won't take a whole lot of work to realize this is one great album. The line up of musicians playing here with Ashby reads like a Bluegrass Who's Who.

Then unwrap the CD and let the first few opening notes grace your ears: some 30 seconds of sweet, clean mandolin opening "Goin" Across The Sea." You're hooked. By the time Stuart Duncan on fiddle; Gena Britt, banjo; Kenny Smith, guitar, and Barry Bales, bass, kick in, you'll realize this is going to be some of the best music you've heard in a long while. To be sure, this is not an album you're going to want to play as background music at a party. Everyone's going to be congregating around your sound system and passing around the cover. And again, it's not anything you'll want to be putting on as you're getting prepared to go out. You're not going anywhere for 39 minutes and 47 seconds at least.

The second cut features Ashby on lead vocals along with Gena on tenor vocals and Lou Reed on commanding lead guitar and baritone vocals. In case you had any doubts: Ashby Frank can sing, too. Follow that one up with bluegrass-on-steroids arrangement of "Soldiers Joy" with Rob Ickes doing it as only he can on Dobro; the rest of the album is a freebie; these first three songs are worth the price of the CD right here. But don't stop there. Crank it up as Lou Reed belts out a killer arrangement of "All Because Of Me" with Ashby and Gena on harmony vocals and some commanding instrumental work by Gena, Ashby, Stuart, and Kenny Smith. Alan O'Bryant and Jennie Frank join Ashby and Company on songs by Merle Haggard ("Somewhere Between") and Woody Guthrie ("Philadelphia Lawyer"). At this point the album is little more than half over and you're ready to pay almost anything and travel almost anywhere to see this folks in person. Ashby Frank may be young, but he's no kid where it counts. His mandolin work is seasoned, very tasteful, and quite innovative on a broad range of bluegrass styles. And there is a confidence to his vocals that goes well beyond his years. He's easily the equal of the prodigious talent surrounding him on this album-- a young man with a very promising future ahead of him.

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Akira Satake "Cooler Heads Prevail"

Alula Records ALU-1003

By: Dale Desmuke
Tricopolis Staff Writer
January 10th, 2000

Playing time: approx. 51 minutes

Tail Wag Dog Jig
Nobody’s Hat
Mr. Fulla Bullets
A.I.
Basho
A Taste Of Loomi
All Else Pales
Into And Out Of ItZ
Atami

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but some recordings have this little sign on them “File Under: World & New Acoustic.” With this recording I can understand why. The front cover art doesn’t tell you much but the back cover shows a guy with a banjo. You might think that this album contains bluegrass, wrong.

The term World Music has seemingly come to describe anything with elements of everything. Yeah, that’s this one. Be warned, if you lean towards Earl, J.D. and Dr. Ralph, this could be rough sledding. But if you really enjoy Bela Fleck, Tony Trishka and Alison Brown, that’s a horse of different color. As Tony Trishka, himself, writes in the liner notes “Place your laser needle on any track here and you’ll find yourself awash in a wealth of cross-cultural rhythms and musical textures.”

Akira Satake does not astound with his pyrotechnics but composes some very interesting pieces. In order to reach into that whole world concept Akira mixes tastes of Bulgarian, Native American, Celtic and Oriental influences. He calls on a host of leading international artists including Johnny Cunningham-fiddle and bouzouki, Glen Velez-percussion, Steve Gorn-bansuri bamboo pipe and Jerry O'Sullivan-uillean pipes. I understand that Akira owns Alula Records and developed the company for just this sort of “different” music. Tim O’Brien’s, Celtic-inspired “The Crossing” was released by Alula Records and there are a whole slew of different genres of music represented

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