Feb 7
Allstar group Longview returns with “Deep in the Mountains”
Burlington, MA — After six long years, bluegrass super-group Longview returns on April 8 with the release of “Deep in the Mountains” (Rounder). This is the band’s fourth recording, but the first with new members J.D. Crowe, Ron Stewart, and Lou Reid. Deep in the Mountains is a tribute to the music the band loves, from traditional bluegrass from the southern mountains; to the first classic ensembles of Bill Monroe, Jim & Jesse, and the Stanley Brothers; even extending into the newgrass revolution ignited by Crowe’s band, The New South.
Longview was originally meant to be a one-time-only gathering of Don Rigsby, James King, Dudley Connell, Marshall Wilborn, Joe Mullins, and Glen Duncan. They came together at the request of Rounder Records co-founder Ken Irwin, to mark the label’s 25th anniversary. Enchanted by the band’s hot, high-baritone harmonies, he coaxed them into doing a record by calling it his “25th anniversary present to myself.” That was supposed to be the end of it, but the bluegrass world begged to differ. The CD reached the Top 15 on Gavin’s Americana chart, and won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s 1998 Recorded Event of the Year and Song of the Year awards.
On Deep in the Mountains, harmonies remain as the centerpiece of Longview. Their signature trio sound remains intact, with Lou Reid ably taking Connell’s place singing tenor on “Old Log Cabin” and Rigsby adding high baritone to “Weathered Grey Stone,” a song written by Connell. King’s wonderfully weather-beaten baritone takes the lead, making the harmony at once visceral and silky – raw and sweet, like wild honey. But then, on “At the First Fall of Snow,” the band delivers the aching tenor harmonies that define the genre’s high, lonesome sound.
At the heart of Longview is an abiding belief that bluegrass is an ensemble music. Banjo player J.D. Crowe, of course, is a bona fide legend, still leading The New South. Ron Stewart (fiddle) is a prolific session musician and a masterful multi-instrumentalist. Guitarist Lou Reid plays with the Seldom Scene, was a founding member of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, and a member of Ricky Skaggs’ band. Marshall Wilborn has played bass for the Johnson Mountain Boys, Lynn Morris, and Jimmy Martin. James King is now widely recognized as on of the finest male ballad singers in bluegrass and mandolinist Don Rigsby is a veteran of the New South and Lonesome River Band. “When I’m playing,” Rigsby says, “my goal is to make them all sound good; and that’s their goal, too. Because if I can’t make them sound good, they’re not going to be able to make me sound good. That’s just one of the laws: the whole is no greater than the sum of its parts. That’s bluegrass physics.”
Track Listing:
- Eating Out of Your Hand
- Weathered Grey Stone
- Room at the Top of the Stairs
- Don’t Leave Me Alone
- Old Log Cabin
- Cotton Eyed Joe
- I’ll Love Nobody but You
- Baptism of Jesse Taylor
- I’m Gonna Love You One More Time
- At the First Fall of Snow
- I Love You Yet
- Georgia Bound
(No Ratings Yet)
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