Old Salt Union

Three years after forming in 2012, Old Salt Union won the national FreshGrass Band contest, so perhaps it's not so remarkable that the band sound like seasoned veterans who have been making music together for decades. With their eponymously titled debut album, John Brighton (fiddle, strings, mandolin), Ryan Murphey (banjo), Justin Wallace (mandolin, piano), Rob Kindle (guitar) and Jesse Farrar (bass, percussion) have delivered a thoroughly engaging package of expertly crafted material. Stylistically, the ten tracks range from ‘Where I Stand’, a prog-rockin’ bluegrass hybrid featuring Farrar's distinctive vocals, to ‘Bought and Sold’, a swooning country lament. There's a whimsically worthy cover of Paul Simon's ‘You Can Call Me Al’ and a swinging instrumental showcase titled ‘Flatt Baroque’ (get it?). Influences run the gamut from jazz, chamber music and vaudevillian jug bands to the contemporary stylings of bluegrass masters such as Mike Marshall, Edgar Meyer and Jerry Douglas. Recently lassoed by Compass Records co-founder and Grammy-winning banjoist and composer Alison Brown, Old Salt Union stand poised for a leap to the next level, for which this album may provide the boost.