Bluegrass

A handful of engaging selections punctuate the 13 tracks on this album, Putumayo’s initial venture into the bluegrass realm. David Grisman and Jerry Garcia offer up a mellifluously mellow mix of flatpicking mandolin and guitar, fiddling and congas on ‘Jackaroo’, a traditional Australian folk song initially popularised by Joan Baez. James Alan Shelton conjures up a ghostly and eloquent rendition of ‘Shady Grove.’ And only Zen master Peter Rowan would conceive of arranging ‘(I am a) Man of Constant Sorrow’ around a reggae beat, and then make it swing like Dixie. On the other hand, hardcore troopers are not going to find anything especially thrilling on this recording. The ubiquitous Alison Krauss & Union Station make an appearance, and the inclusion of Sam Bush represents an attempt at keepin’ it real. But without unsheathing the machete and commencing to cut and thrust with extreme prejudice on musicians who are guilty only of doing their best, let’s just say that, overall, Bluegrass is to the genre created by Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs what a McDonald’s quarter-pounder with cheese is to a dry-aged standing rib-beef roast.