Hard Row to Hoe

On their debut, this group from Boulder, Colorado do the traditions of bluegrass and old-time music proud, both when covering older songs, such as Red Allen's marvellously tuneful ‘Don’t Lie to Me’ from the 1960s, and when showcasing their original material, mostly by husband-and-wife Geoff and Christina Union. The married pair is also the source of much of the sweetly sung close-harmonies, and Geoff picks crisp guitar on one of his several affecting story songs, ‘Where's Pappy’. But the four other instrumentalists also contribute brief but virtuosic solos, generously shared out, on mandolin, banjo, fiddle and bass. The group is, overall, a paradigm of musical unity, free of the common contemporary sins of cutesiness and self-featuring showiness. The influence of stellar forebears like Hazel Dickens and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is respectfully evoked, while the approach to lyric writing emerges as personal and fresh. Even when straying slightly from the expressive melodies and arrangements, the quality of performance remains.