CD: TERRY KRUGER – Mountain Bluebird

TERRY KRUGER

Mountain Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird – Corner Store – Spirits –
Fireball Mail – Coal Creek Chimes – Hickups – Cuckoo – My Home’s Across
The Blueridge Mountains – Baba’s Tuen – Clinch Mountain Backstep –
Santa Claus – Lost All My Money – Swan River Blues – Breaking Up
Christmas – Grandfathers Clock – Long Road Back To Sally
 
It’s not often we get the extreme opportunity to hear 
Appalachian mountain music played really really well, but here it is in
the frailing hands and fingers of Terry Kruger, a Canadian no less. 
I’ve always been a fan of frailing banjo, mostly because of its nice
gallop across the strings and music that creates a happy feeling.  On
this CD, Terry Kruger not only gallops, he allow his fellow musicians to
join him on a remarkable experience of playing old-time really well. 
The bass actually dances.  I don’t mean it’s flying all over the place,
it sets the beat, the rhythm, the delightful back and forth lay that
acoustic bass sounds so good at. Dirk Powell is this prolific bass
player that sounds like glue to Terry’s banjo, no matter what he’s
playing. He also adds guitar and mandolin in the overdub.  On the
fiddle, appropriately taking second chair to the banjo is Kevin Wimmer
who also knows exactly how that mountain sound developed and therefore
is able to reinvent it backing Terry.  These guys have been around
awhile, and they, like all dedicated musicians, have had their ups and
downs, but you can be sure of one thing they know how to make happy
music.  It’s an all instrumental CD, equally good to actually sit down
and listen to, or in the background for simple pleasure. These exotic
musicians went to exotic New Orleans to ‘create’ this masterpiece of
old-time instrumental music.  Dirk Powell producing, engineering,
mixing, and mastering at the Cypress House in Breaux Bridge.  Wow
there’s a couple of delicious Cajun food restaurants in Breaux
Bridge.  Dirk works for Sugar Hill if the name sounds familiar, and his
expertise in the final product is astonishingly authentic mountain style
music.  So rare these days in a phobia of non-music sound-alike insults
to the creative process. These guys don’t have to ‘push’ to get this
delightful sound, they are naturals especially together in more ways
than one. This is creativity alive and well, and certainly unaltered by
modern standards. This CD goes immediately to the Rural Roots Music
Commission for their perusal.  I see ‘old-time’ all over this project,
an authentic one we rarely get. Five stars from me Terry.
Bob Everhart, Reviewer  www.ntcma.net

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