Bluegrass Music: Tricopolis Records-CD Reviews

Decision At Glady Fork
Blue Night
Brown County Breakdown
Highland Rim
When Love Comes To Town
Walk Among The Woods
Minor Swing; Tater Patch
The Water Is Wide
Grover Glen
Chief’s Medley
Lady Be Good
Smoky Mountain Memories
The Good Deed

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That old aphorism that says you can judge a person by the company he or she keeps certainly applies to music and most certainly applies to Bryan Sutton.

Make no mistake about it, these folks have put their names and talents on a real winner here. This is a mighty fine collection of music, and Bryan Sutton is as good as they come. An accomplished guitarist, arranger, composer, and producer, Bryan can play it all, from bluegrass standards like “Blue Night,” with Pat Enright belting it out on lead vocals and some fine instrumental work by Ricky Skaggs on mandolin, Rob Ickes on Dobro, Aubrey Haynie on fiddle, and Dennis Crouch on bass; and “Brown County Breakdown,” featuring Ron Block on banjo and David Harvey on mandolin; to B.B. King blues--“When Love Comes To Town” featuring Jeff White on a commanding vocal effort and Jerry Douglas on Dobro; to Grappelli and Reinhardt jazz--“Minor Swing” with Bryan, Aubrey, and Dennis doing a simply extraordinary job. The instrumental work on the brothers Gershwins’ “Lady Be Good” is impeccable, incredible. And Bryan and Company cook on the opening piece, one of five excellent Bryan Sutton originals here.

With all this amazing talent in Bryan’s arsenal, there’s still a healthy helping of pure old fashioned taste and humility. Sure, Bryan can cut loose with the best of them, but he knows just as well when less is more, when to hang back and play it simple as he does behind Dolly Parton’s beautiful stirring vocals on “Smoky Mountain Memories.” Bryan’s arrangement of the traditional “The Water Is Wide” is very moving, lovely; Becky Isaacs Bowman’s and Sonya Isaacs Surrett’s vocals: stunning. The final cut is all too brief, another gorgeously understated original instrumental, with Bryan performing beautifully on solo guitar.

Bryan does an excellent job producing this CD; likewise, Mark Howard’s and David Ferguson’s recording and mixing are very clear and well-balanced. The liner card is nicely laid out, down to the artwork inside and out and the well-deserved credit Bryan gives his musicians and the beautifully made and, thanks in no small part to Bryan himself, exceptionally fine-sounding guitars.

Music rarely comes as good as this; it doesn’t get any better.

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Nickel Creek "Nickel Creek"

Sugar Hill Records SHCD-3909

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

Playing time: 49:38 minutes

Ode To A Butterfly
The Lighthouse's Tale
Out Of The Woods
House Of Tom Bombadil
Reasons Why
When You Come Back Down
Sweet Afton
Cuckoo's Nest
The Hand Song
Robin and Marian
The Fox
Pastures New

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The night before I got this wonderful self-titled Sugar Hill debut recording, I went to an Alison Krauss concert. At the time I thought I wouldn't be hearing any music this exciting for some time to come. Wrong. Let's put aside all that stuff about how young they are and how long they've been playing and all the contests they've won. Nickel Creek is here. Let's listen to the music.

"Ode To A Butterfly" is bluegrass and Celtic and classical and a high spirited great kickoff for the album. Chris Thile takes off barreling down the road with banjo and mandolin. Gracefully, sweetly lacing her lines around the mandolin, in comes Sara Watkins on violin and then Sean Watkins drives in the rhythm on guitar. That great an elegant bass you hear is Scott Thile, the elder statesman in this group, a man who always looks like he is totally enjoying the playing of the music, living in the moment and the flow. And this is how their tunes are. "In The House Of Tom Bombadi" is a rollicking and Celtic. Way back when David Grisman, Tony Rice, Tony Trishka and all those second generation bluegrass cats were stretching out, it was called new acoustic music. In these hands, I hear that innovation, alive, fresh and exciting. "Robin and Marion" is British Isles and "Pastures New" jazz and classical both beautiful new tunes by Sean Watkins.

Sean Watkins and writing partner David Puckett wrote "Reasons Why" and I have to admit it is my favorite vocal cut on the album. The music is sparse, beautiful and the harmonies rich, put me in mind of Crosby, Stills and Nash at their very best. There are great songs by Chris Thile, a fine contribution by Tim O'Brien and Danny O'Keefe. There is beautiful rendition of Robert Burns' Sweet Afton with music by Chris Thile.

This recording says something new to me each time I hear it.

The Watkins', brother and sister, the Thiles father and son, have played together for a good long while. Their good and friendly energy and an amazing amount of talent make this a standout recording.

That concert I mentioned earlier made for an interesting segue. Alison Krauss produced this recording. Of course, Nickel Creek is not a clone of Alison Krauss and Union Station or anyone else, what her influence was, was quality. The singing, the songs, the players - all quality, all playing at the top of their game (that for Chris) and we can believe it will only get better.

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