Category: Music Life

Ron Hynes – Stealing Genius

  By
Stealing Genius - Ron Hynes

2026 Update

As I was updating this post, which was first published in 2011, I realized just how much things have changed. I admit that I unfortunately lost track of Ron Hynes’ music over the years. Sadly, Ron passed away in 2015, making Stealing Genius his final studio album. Additionally, while No Depression still exists as a website, the community platform I knew back then is gone. Upon discovering Ron’s passing, I feel a strong pull to go back, revisit his earlier albums, and write some posts to help keep his memory and incredible music alive!

The Road to Ron Hynes

The other day on the No Depression website, someone raised the question, “What is Folk Music?” Well, that question has been floating around inside my head for the last several days. While I don’t have any definitive, academic answers, here is my personal take on it.

What is Folk Music?

I guess when I think of “pure” folk music, I think about artists who performed older, traditional songs—legends like Pete Seeger and The Weavers, Jean Ritchie, Elizabeth Cotten, Woody Guthrie, and “Doc” Watson.

But in the 60s, after the rise of popular “folk” groups like The Kingston Trio, The Chad Mitchell Trio, and The Limeliters, the genre took a swing to the left and turned a bit inward as a new wave of musicians arrived on the scene.

This group was led by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Phil Ochs, singing side by side with artists like Tom Rush, Tom Paxton, Eric Andersen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Paul Seibel, Dave Van Ronk, Fred Neil, and many others.

These were the folks who shaped my “Folk” world, and their music was my personal “Folk University.”

Just a man or woman with a guitar, commenting on the human condition. Many times they were political comments, particularly with Ochs and Paxton, but often they were deeply touching songs—moving melodies with real “heart” and “feeling” that made you stop and think. Songs like Tom Paxton’s “Cindy’s Crying,” Paul Seibel’s “Louise,” Fred Neil’s “The Dolphins,” Tom Rapp’s “Rocket Man,” or Ochs’ “Flower Lady.”

The way I like to refer to this music is that it’s “Folk’s Music”—music by folks and about folks! To me, there is nothing better than a good story song about everyday people, like Harry Chapin’s “Mr. Tanner” or Jerry Jeff’s “Stoney.”

Discovering Ron Hynes

Now, all of this is leading up to the artist I’ve been listening to for the last couple of days: Ron Hynes and his album Stealing Genius. Ron Hynes was a legendary Canadian folksinger hailing from Newfoundland, and he spent over 30 years writing brilliant folk songs. One of them, “Sonny’s Dream,” has been recorded worldwide by countless artists and was even named the 41st greatest Canadian song of all time! And to think, I had only just heard of him back when I wrote this (once again, my bad!). But like they say, “better late than never!”

I won’t bore you with a dry biography and a list of accomplishments, but it’s worth noting just how deeply respected his songwriting is. His songs have been covered by dozens of artists worldwide, including Emmylou Harris, Christy Moore, Mary Black, Denny Doherty, Murray McLauchlan, Valdy, John McDermott, Terry Kelly, Prairie Oyster, The Good Brothers, Shaye, The Cottars, and Hayley Westenra.

About – Stealing Genius

Stealing Genius is a collection of fourteen beautifully crafted songs. Reading the liner notes, you can see that Hynes took his craft incredibly seriously, giving each track a lot of thought and care. He often based his songs on the works of other creators he admired (ah, maybe that’s where the title Stealing Genius comes from!). In this way, his approach reminded me a lot of Tom Russell.

While all of the tracks are great, I do have my immediate favorites. They include “My Father’s Ghost,” a touching story about the loss of a father at sea, and “Judgment,” a song about Robert Ford and the shooting of Jesse James.

I guess if I hadn’t known he was Canadian beforehand, I certainly would have after hearing “Sawchuk”—his brilliant song about the legendary hockey goalie Terry Sawchuk.

Sandwiched in between these standout tracks are beautiful songs about life, love, and the sting of loss. If you are like me and have some catching up to do when it comes to Ron Hynes, I highly encourage you to go find his music on your favorite streaming platforms or track down a physical copy on Amazon. I know I still have a lot of his older catalog left to check out!

Links and Listens

The Video

Here’s Ron with a live performance of “House” from Stealing Genius:

Frank Solivan Rescues a So-So Twang Tuesday

  By , ,
Frank Solivan - Selfish Tears



So some days everything I listen to is enjoyable and well other days it’s just so-so! Guess which one today was! Well not the former – yes it’s Twangy Tuesday and I went looking for some new twang mostly on the bluegrass side.

The Box Cars – The Box Cars Kicked Off the Day

I started by listening to an album that I was really looking forward to hearing The Boxcars self-titled release. I was looking forward to it because two of my favorites are in the band Adam Steffey and Rob Stewart both two of the best pickers around.

Steffey won two IBMA awards in 2010 one for mandolin player of the year and the second an Instrumental Performance Award. But after two listens to the first part of the album I just can’t warm up to it – now I’m not writing it off yet – it may be on a different day or on a more thorough listen, I’ll really like it! Let’s hope!.

Next Came Tennessee Mafia Jug Band – Barnyard Frolic

After The Boxcars I listened to a few tracks from the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band and their 2008 release Barnyard Frolic again while it was good the album just didn’t grab me – like I said maybe it was just the day.

Then Frank Solivan

After lunch and reading a comment on my Favorite Bluegrass Bands of 2010 post at No Depression that I should check out Frank Solivan and Dirty kitchen I went to Rhapsody and the album was not there but Frank’s 2006 release Selfish Tears was, so I gave it a listen – hum some good picking and singing. This one did catch my attention so I kept it in the back of my mind.

Next Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers’and Ned Crisp and Bottomline

After dinner I checked out a couple of albums from the bluegrass charts at the Roots Music Report Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers’ Rambler’s Call and Ned Crisp and Bottomline’s Taking the Back Roads Home both good traditional bluegrass albums but again they didn’t quite fit my mood tonight!

Finally Brandon Jenkins’ album Brothers of the Dirt.

Later I checked out Brandon Jenkins’ album Brothers of the Dirt. This album is more like what I am looking for the first track “Blood for Oil” was good and then I kinda lost interest! So far all of the albums were pretty good and all deserve another listen on another night!

A Night Ending Return to Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen

So at the end of the night I listened to Frank Solivan again and that one does have some really good tracks on it and will definitely get another listen. Oh no I remember the closing track “Scorchin’ the Gravy”. Now that was what I was looking for!!

So let’s listen tomorrow and maybe I’ll find Frank Solivan and Dirty kitchen which is probably pretty damn good!

2026 Update: After first discovering Frank Solivan’s solo album Selfish Tears in this 2011 post, I eventually explored more of his music. I did find Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen;s self-titled debut album. It WAS terrific and I became a fan!

Check out my full Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen artist page for later albums, band info, and playlists.

Update No 2 : The reason that Brandon Jenkins album didn’t feel right was that he is not a bluegrass musician. He was a according to wikipedia part of the Red Dirt music genre.

The Playlist

Here’s a Baker’s Dozen Playlist with songs from the albums I listened to that day – they all sound pretty good t me!

y’s Missing You”!

Old Man Luedecke – Proof of Love

  By ,

At the end of this post I wrote that people should check out the music of Old Man Luedecke. Well, this old man didn’t heed his own advice and it seems he missed out on a lot of great music between the time he wrote the following post in 2010bqnd 2026!

Old Man Ludeecke a Second Listen Pays Off

So a while back I wrote that I had listened to Old Man Luedecke’s 2008 release Proof of Love. While I liked that banjo playing and the vocals were ok, it wasn’t what I was looking for that day! Well, after hearing a few of his songs on shuffle and liking them, I gave the album another listen last week and now I think that awarding the 2009 Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) for Roots Solo Album to him was the right thing to do!!

From his website:

…., Proof of Love won the prestigious 2009 Juno Award (the Canadian Grammy) for Roots Solo album and won legions of new fans at home and abroad. The album is a gathering of musicians making music in a room (Vancouver’s famed Factory Studio) with Luedecke’s tunes. It’s nothing fancy but is an exciting and unique roots album combining OML’s trademark clawhammer style, compelling originals and full ballads.

About Old Man Luedecke and Proof of Love

Old Man Luedecke is the performing name of young man with an old soul Chris Luedecke, of Chester, Nova Scotia. There are a lot of great tracks on the album Proof of Love. duh. It won a Juno Award, Edward!

My favorites include the tracks, “Ain’t Goin’ My Way”, “Wake Up Hill” , “Big Group Breakfast”, and “Johnny Gone to Soldier” but like many albums everything is good in it’s own way!

So check out Old Man Luedecke

The Video

Here’s Old Man Luedecke perfprming “Thr Rear Guard”

What We Lost Ben Bedford – Let’s Go Into the Night

  By ,
What We Lost - Ben Bedford

So to enjoy most singer-songwriters you don’t need to be all that Culturally Literate, not so with Ben Bedford. With Bedford it’s always a good idea to have Google or Wikipedia  fired up so that you can find out more about the subject of many of his songs.

Take the song “Cahokia”  from his latest album What We Lost , when Ben sings…

Cahokia what secrets do you keep, your bones buried deep inside the hills,
Cahokia the river runs it course, Mississippi’s swollin force is never still.

I wasn’t quite sure what he was singing about the first time I heard the song,  but a search on Wikipedia revealed.

About the Cahokia Mounds

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site ( /kəˈhoʊkiə/) is located on the site of an ancient Native American city (c. 600–1400 CE) situated directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in Southern Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville….

Cahokia was the largest and most influential urban settlement in the Mississippian culture which developed advanced societies across much of what is now the Southeastern United States, beginning more than 500 years before European contact.[4] Cahokia’s population at its peak in the 1200s was as large, or larger, than any European city of that time, and its ancient population would not be surpassed by any city in the United States until about the year 1800 Read More at Wikipedia

The American Portrait Songwriting of Ben Bedford

And so it goes, on the album Bedford presents songs about the poet Vachel Lindsay, blues legend Charley Patton and the 1973 standoff between members of The American Indian Movement and federal agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation. 

You see Bedford is a songwriter whose songs start with an idea for a story that he would like to tell, a literary approach influenced by two of his favorite authors, John Steinbeck and Toni Morrison.

“Usually it starts with something that I’m inspired by in some way. A person and their life in general, or a certain aspect of their life. I’ll have a line in my head and it will materialize and take off from there,” Bedford said. “The hardest thing about writing a song, for me anyway, is getting that first line. Once I get that first line it can start flowing out.”

Bedford refers to his style as American Portrait Songwriting. Over the course of three albums, the Springfield resident has addressed contemporary issues such as homelessness, but his work mainly focuses on historical subjects and figures — not surprising given that he was a history major in college. He has written songs about John the Baptist, poet and artist Vachel Lindsay, and aviator Amelia Earhart. More

Thoughts About Ben Bedford

What We Lost is Bedford’s third album and each one of them is outstanding! In 2010 Rich Warren of  the “Midnight Special” broadcast of WFMT-FM 98.7 listed Bedford on his most significant singer-songwriters of folk in the last 50 years! Being on this listen with one of his main influences Townes Van Zant must have been a thrill for Bedford!

So if you’ve never heard Ben Bedford’s music be sure to check him out, but remember to have  Google or  Wikipedia near by!!

The Video

Here’s the title track of the album “What We Lost” a song about his Grandfather.

Weekend Retreat – Tim O’Brien – The Hackensaw Boys

  By ,
Tim O'Brien - Rock in My Shoe

So this weekend I went back in time to revisit some of the earlier work of Tim O’Brien. O’Brien recently received a nomination by International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) as Male Vocalist of the Year for his latest album Chicken and Egg. Unfortunately he did not win the award. The winner was Russell Moore of IIrd Tyme Out.

Anyway the album that I listened to this weekend was Tim’s 1995 album Rock in My Shoe. The album was produced by Jerry Douglas. I listened to the first several tracks so that I could hear my favorite track on the album “One Girl Cried”. A great track about what music is all about, making music that moves someone. Here’s the great chorus:

And one girl cried to a melody that turned around her soul
One girl cried amazed at how the lyric took it’s toll
There beside a little table she thought she was safe alone
But the music hit it’s mark when one girl cried

Tim O'brien and Hot Rise So Long of a Journey

Revisiting Hot Rize – So Long of a Journey

After Rock in My Shoe I listened to was Hot Rize. Tim co-founded Hot Rize in 1978 with guitarist Charles Sawtelle, bassist Nick Forster, and banjo player Peter Wernick.

I listened to a live album that was originally recorded in 1996 and released in 2002, So Long of a Journey . There’s a lot of great picking on this album from a great group of musicians, obviously including the multi-instrumentalist O’Brien!

Hot Rize also started touring again in 2002 with Bryan Sutton taking the place of Charles Sawtelle. Charles unfortunately passed away in 1999 at the age of 52 from complications related to a bone marrow transplant in his fight against leukemia.

Anyway if you’ve never heard Tim OBrien’s music there’s about 16 solo albums that you can check out along with a bunch of Hot Rize albums! Oh, and if you only listen to one song listen to “One Girl Cried”

Next Revisit the Hackensaw Boys and Look Out

The second band that listened to this weekend was one that doesn’t come up much on the iPod so their music gets a little lost. The Hackensaw Boys I listened to their 2007 album Look Out

At first, The Hackensaw Boy’s CD Look Out sounds like standard issue bluegrass but it doesn’t take long to realize that these guys aren’t pining for the good ol’ days of yesteryear, but are instead diving head-first into the hear and now and crowd-surfing into the future. – Taprootradio.com

These guys play it fast and furious and good and I don’t know why I don’t listen to them more!! You check check out some of their music

Tim O’ Brien

Website

FaceInstagram

\

and the Hackensaw Boys!

Sierra Hull and Highway 111 on a “Twang Tuesday”

  By , ,
sierra hull - secrets album

Originally published Nov 2010 Revised and Updated July 2026


So a while ago I wrote about the great young fiddler Amanda Shaw. When the post was on No Depression one of the comments was that maybe she could team with equally young Sierra Hull, who plays mandolin to form a wunderkid band!

So never having heard of Sierra Hull I visited her website and one of the first things that stood out were these quotes”

“Sierra Hull is without doubt my favorite mandolin player!” – Adam Steffey – pretty high praise from a great mandolin player!

“Every so often, a talent comes along that makes us sit up and take notice. That time is now for Sierra Hull.” -SAM BUSH – again some greater praise from a great picker!

Award Nominations for Sierra Hull

Then I see that Sierra and her band Highway 111 were nominated for two IBMA awards in 2010 first for Emerging Artist Of the Year – Sierra & Highway 111 and then *Mandolin Player Of the Year – Sierra!

Finally, I see that her latest album and first national release Secrets was co-produced by Ron Block,(who’s worked with Alison Kraus and plays on the album along with Barry Bales, Dennis Crouch, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Clay Hess, Rob Ickes, Chris Jones, Jason Moore, Tony Rice, Dan Tyminski, Jim VanCleve, and the remarkably hard-driving seventeen-year-old banjo phenom Cory Walker, who has already played alongside Sierra for several years.

My Thoughts

So needless to say I quickly downloaded the album and have been listening to it for the last week or so and it is a great album. Sierra voice reminds me of a young Alison Kraus. It’s never over powering and fits perfectly with the music, which as expected is very very good.

While I like the whole album the two tracks that do keep catching my attention are the two instrumental tracks “Smashville” and “Hullarious” both dynamite tracks!

So check out the phenom from Byrdstown Tennessee. Oh by the way this young woman who started playing mandolin at eight she just finished high school this year and will be going to Berklee College of Music next year on a full scholarship!

2026 Update

Since this post was written in 2010 Sierra Hull has released four additional albums

  • Daybreak – 2010
  • Weighted Mind (2015)
  • 25 Trips (2020)
  • A Tip Toe High Wire (2025)

In addition she has won numerous awards and honors.

Hull has won ten International Bluegrass Music Association awards between 2010 and 2023, including winning best mandolin player in 6 out of the past 8 years (2016-2023).[13]

Hull received the Bluegrass Star Award, presented by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation, on October 19, 2013. The award is bestowed upon bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing traditional bluegrass music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage

The young woman has done really well – now if I had listened to my adivice I’d know those four albums listed abovr! Instead of needing to listen to them now!

Memories Monday – John Mayall – Chicago Line

  By , ,
Chicago Line= John Mayall


So a few weeks ago as I was researching for a post about Walter Trout’s latest album Common Ground ,I discovered or rediscovered that Walter had played on John Mayall‘s 1988 release Chicago Line.

I say rediscovered because I probably knew in 1988 that Walter played on the album, but by the time I listened to Walter’s solo albums a few years ago, it was something I didn’t remember!

Anyway I went to the CD shelf and pulled out Chicago Line and listened to it. I haven’t listened to it for a while because it currently is not on the iPod. It was ripped a long time ago and now resides on one of the external hard drives that think it is a CD drive!

About Chicago Line

Chicago Line was an old time John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers type album like the albums when Eric Clapton and Peter Green were the guitarists. This time the lead guitar duties were shared by Coco Montoya and the aforementioned Walter Trout. Coco has the first lead guitar solo on the opening track “Chicago Line” a great number to open the album!

On the second track “Gimme One More Day” John shares guitar with Coco. On the third track “One Life to Live” about John’s experiences in the Korean War. Walter takes over lead guitar duty.  

On the cover of Jimmy Rogers’ “The Last Time” Coco takes the first solo and Walter the second. Track 5 “Dream About the Blues” Coco plays lead and Walter provides rhythm and harmonica. Walter takes the 1st solo on “Fascinating Lover” and Coco the 2nd. On one my favorite tracks “Cold Blooded Mama” Coco plays lead and Walter provides finger picking and rhythm guitars. On “The Dirty Dozens” they share guitar duties with Coco in the lead spot on the next track “Tears Came Rolling Down”.

The closing track is a Walter Trout tune “Life in the Jungle” (I used a video of Walter’s version of the song on the Common Ground post) which sounds a little different than Walter’s version!

My Thoughts

Overall it was a great listen to a really good Mayall album with the overall strength of the album coming from the guitars of Coco Montoya and Walter Trout! I must confess that I haven’t listened to much from John since his 2005 release Road Dogs. I see that his latest album Tough is his 57th album and his band is now composed of Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and Jay Davenport on drums. Guess I have to check it out! Oh, and by the way Chicago Line is now on the iPod! And while it doesn’t make any difference to you it does to me!

Here’s a Mayall performance of “One Life to Live” with Walter on lead and Coco playing rhythm and drinking! Filmed at Iowa State in 1987.

Common Ground- Walter Trout on a “Blues Wednesday”

  By , ,
Common Ground Walter Trout

\

Walter Looks for Common Ground

“If there’s a place where the truth can still be found, Lord, lead us to the common ground.” so sings one of my favorite blues artist Walter Trout on the title track of his new album Common Ground. Common Ground is Trout’s 20th album and only a few are in my collection, but those that are get listened to a lot!

From his website Trout says this about the song

“I am blown away by the polarization and cruelty in the world today,” Trout explains. “It goes beyond my understanding. I wrote the lyrics to that song as an attempt to come to terms with that, and as a wish that somehow — regardless of our faiths and nationalities and politics — we can find a place where truth and compassion can take us beyond our differences.”

Thoughts About Common Ground

Common Ground is another winner of an album by Trout full of great guitar licks and some great songwriting. To me it seems that there my be a little more acoustic guitar intros. Trout says this about making the album,:”I’d play each song for the guys on acoustic guitar, and then everybody would pitch in ideas and we’d cut the tracks while the excitement level was high,”

The guys in this case are band mates Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Elton John, etc.) on drums, Hutch Hutchinson on bass and pianist Jon Cleary (both of Bonnie Raitt’s band), and famed producer John Porter, whose credits span from Brit-pop legends the Smiths to John Lee Hooker and B.B. King to Santana. These are the same guys that played on Trout’s 2008 release The Outsider

Walter’s Influences.

In researching this piece I found this tidbit from Trout’s biography at his website, yet another guitarist influenced by Mike Bloomfield:

For Trout the journey began in 1965 when his brother brought the first album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band into his family’s New Jersey home. “On the back cover it said, ‘Play this album loud,’ so we cranked it up and we literally had to sit down and stay there with our jaws on the floor.”

The twin guitars of Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, and Butterfield’s juggernaut harmonica and voice, worked their magic. And the direction of Trout’s life was determined. Of course, it helped that his parents were musically informed; raising their kids on a diet of sounds that included Hank Williams, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, John Coltrane, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles and more.

Like I said this is one of Trout’s best albums and all the songs from the opening track “Maybe a Fool” to the closing track “Excess Bagge are good. I particularly liked “Hudson had Help” which is not you typically blues number!

What Others Say….

Blues Matter says this about the album: “Walter just keeps getting better….a CD full of master class guitaring, with the signature Trout, gritty impassioned vocal and composed of well structured songwriting. Another cracker!”

Final Thoughts!

So check it out! Oh, and another thing that I learned about Walter he played with John Mayall on several of John’s albums in the 1980s including one of my favorites Chicago Line and I thought that Coco Montoya was the lone guitarist on that album!! and another thing he was born in Ocean City, NJ!!!

The Video

Walter Trout performs” Common Ground” in Stanhope NJ in 2011

Blues Wednesday – James Cotton – Giant

  By , ,
James Cottom Giant

So sometimes artist fall into that category of you know their name, you know they’re great and yet you’ve never listened to their music. An artist like that for me is the great James Cotton. I’ve known the name since the 60’s then the James Cotton Blues Band, but never really sought out his music only hearing it now and then on the radio’

So when I saw that the 75 year old Cotton had released a new album Giant a few weeks ago I said in my best Toyota Commercial Voice “Now is the Time!” and downloaded the album on to the player and after listening I had one of those “What was I thinking” moments! “Superharp” at 75 has made a great blues album! You can read the press release from Alligator News here

About James Cotton-Giant

Of the 12 tracks on Giant four are new Cotton originals and co-writes. The other tracks include songs made famous by Muddy Waters (with whom Cotton playeds for several years), B.B. King, Ivory Joe Hunter and others. Cotton has always had great bands throughout his career. On Giant his band mates are Slam Allen and Tom Holland who share guitar and vocal duties, Noel Neal on bass (except for one song where Ronnie James Weber plays bass) Kenny Neal, Jr is the drummer.

Throughout the album from the opening track “Buried Alive in the Blues” to the closing track “Blues for Koko” Cotton’s harp work is outstanding. On several of the tracks like, “How Blue Can You Get?” the guitar work also stands out!

So if you like blues harmonica, like I do, don’t put off listening to James Cotton, like I did. Check out Giant, well, because James Cotton is and at 75 he’s still blowing strong!

Thinking about not listening to James Cotton makes me think about the author and book I’m reading now Greg Iles’ True Evil. Iles is one of those authors that when I pick up one of his books and read it I end up saying “wow!” and thinking why don’t I read this author’s new books as soon as they come out!!

Anyway here’s “How Blue Can You Get?” featuring Slam Allen’s guitar work!

Twang Tuesday – John Cowan – The Massenburg Sessions

  By ,
John Cowan - The Massenburg Sessions

Originally Post September 2010 Revised and Updated July 2026

Ok so these last few months I’ve spent so much time looking for new musicians that I missed a new album by a favorite! Back in April, John Cowan released a new album The Massenberg Sessions. Originally Posted Swptember 2010 revised and Updated July 2026

About The Massenburg Sessions

For this album John worked with mastering engineer George Massenburg known for his work with folks like Little Feat, Dixie Chicks, Linda Ronstadt, Randy Newman and others. The album was recorded live in the studio. There was no overdubbing or editing, and the musicians didn’t even use headphones. There was no mixing and the sound on the album came from the placement of the microphones and the instruments in the studio! The result is a great album!!

The album opens with a jump blues classic that I know from B.B. King “Caledonia”! All the tracks are great in their own way, some highlights for me  include: “Black Blizzard” a song where  Cowan’s voice soars accompanied only by  Shad Cobb’s fiddle,  a  cover Paul and Linda McCartney’s ” Heart of the Country” (What that wasn’t a bluegrass song?).  The Del McCourey Band joins John for a cover of  Bill Monroe’s “Can’t You Hear Me Callin'”.

The Voice of John Cowan and Some Great Friends Help Out

I’ve said before that for me there a few voices as great as John Cowan’s!! I loved it when he sang with the New Grass Revival and also his own band !  It’s one of those things, yes, he could sing the phone book and I’d probably love it!!

Anyway thankfully, he has some great songs to work with and musically some help from friends including, Del McCoury, Reese Wynans and Maura O’Connell.

I usually don’t like gospel tracks but again anything John sings sounds great and the a cappella version of “Jesus Gave Me Water” is great. Maura O’Connell joins John on a Cajun, Celtic version of the traditional song “Lakes of the Ponchartrain”  The album ends with the beautiful Cowan and Jon Randall Stewart song  “Soiled Dove”.

Final Thoughts

The album features some good picking but the center of it all is Cowan’s voice and on this album it is at it’s best. I know that the album is going to stay around on the player for a long time. So if you don’t know John Cowan’s voice do your self a favor and listen to what may be Cowan’s best album yet!!

Hey, I’m listening to “Long Road Back to You” another great track! Did I cover every track yet?? No I missed this one “Carry On”!

The Voice

Here’s John performing “Jesus Gave Me Water”