So yesterday began with a trip to Newark’s beautiful Doremus Avenue on the shores of the Passaic River and while the views are not breathtaking, the music was good! The trip started off with the most recent release from John Reischman and the Jaybirds Vintag & Unique. I noticed the album early in the week when I was reviewing the Folk DJ Chart for June. The albums was number 9 on the chart. The album is a good mix of great instrumental and fine vocal tracks! The band and John Reischman are based in Vancover, British Columbia. John is one of the acoustic world’s top-ranked mandolin players and composers and it definitely shows on the album! Vintage & Unique is the bands fifth album and all of the previous albums have been highly praised: After listening to Vintage & Unique I put the fourth album Stellar Jays on the iPod. Here’s what some folks say about their music!
“Any argument about John Reischman & the Jaybirds being a leading bluegrass band can be settled by listening to their exceptional third album, The Road West.” – Billboard, 2005.
“The musicianship is, as ever, flawless.” – The Georgia Straight, 2005.
Their previous CD Field Guide (Corvus/Copper Creek) was nominated for Canada’s highest music award, the Juno, in the Roots and Traditional Group category for 2002.
The Jaybirds are all highly regarded veterans Jim Nunally on guitar and vocals, Trisha Gagnon on bass and vocals, Nick Hornbuckle on banjo and Greg Spatz on fiddle.
The top three tracks on the Folk DJ Chart were “Last Chance”,”Shady Grove” and “Cypress Hills” So check them out!
The next album I was a little ambivalent about so I think it may take a few listens to really get to form an opinion of the album. The album was a little farther down the Folk DJ Chart resting at number 66. It’s the self-titled album from The Wilders. The band is from Kansas City and here’s some info from their website:
The Wilders are made up of four fiery and wildly inventive musicians. Ike Sheldon handles lead vocals, guitar, and is the Master of Ceremonies; Betse Ellis exhilarates audiences with her bow-hair-destroying fiddle work; Nate Gawron simultaneously drives and grounds the group on bass; and Phil Wade adds the flavor by swapping between dobro, mandolin, and banjo. It’s not uncommon for a listener to mistakenly assume there’s a fifth member of the band on drums; The Wilders call this phenomenon the “Phantom Drummer,” a testament to the rhythmic energy and hard-driving beat of this four-piece string band.
I do know that I loved most of the up-tempo songs full of fine picking. It was the slower ballads that didn’t quite do it for me.But the album will definitely get some more plays!
The top two tracks on the Folk DJ Chart were “Riding On Your High Horse” and “She Says”. The second being a favorite of mine!
More later from the ride home! Now it’s time to recover from my short 2.7 mile run tonight!
Here’s John Reischman and The Jaybird:s
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