The Old School

In a career that spans six decades, Rowan has sung and played guitar and mandolin with Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys; founded the hybrid folk-jam ensemble Old And In The Way with Jerry Garcia, David Grisman and Vassar Clements; and penned chart-topping songs and released dozens of albums in collaboration with the likes of Jerry Douglas, Tony Rice and Don Edwards. So when Rowan gathered up a dozen songs and invited top musicians like Del McCoury, Jesse McReynolds and Bobby Osborne, along with young whippersnappers such as Dennis Crouch (Time Jumpers) and Jeremy Garrett (Infamous Stringdusters), to play them, there was never any doubt that a seriously cool trip would be the result.

Rowan sketches out an abiding theme on the first track, ‘Keepin’ it Between the Lines': ‘You've got to pick it clean, play it true, that's the rule of the old school.’ The rest is an enthralling combination of history lesson and ode to the future of bluegrass, delivered by one of the genre's most experienced and erudite professors.