Jun 24
Review: Danny Paisley & Southern Grass “The Room Over Mine” (Rounder)
Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass “The Room Over Mine” (Rounder) lands June 24.Some things meet expectations — and that’s a good thing.
So it is with “The Room Over Mine,” the first Rounder Records CD for Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass. It has a street release date of June 24.
Carrying on a tradition started by his late father, Paisley is about as blue and grassy as it gets. He’s a mixture of high lonesome and low-down, moan-in-your-beer blues. And, the entire gamut is nicely displayed on this release.
Paisley played with his dad’s band, Bob Paisley and The Southern Grass, for several years before his dad’s passing in 2004. The senior Paisley had performed bluegrass for half a century, including 25 years leading his own band. Son Dan joined Southern Grass when he was only 15. So, it was a given — and a natural — that he carried the group’s torch after Bob Paisley’s death.
“The Room Over Mine” showcases perhaps one of the hardest-driving traditional bands wandering the festival circuit these days. There’s no holding back when Dan Paisley and his very capable band take to the stage — and that’s how this CD comes off. It’s in your face.
The CD contains a couple of cool, fun tunes –”I’m Leaving Detroit”and “Raising Cain in Texas,” the classic “The Convict and the Rose,” and hot instrumental licks all along the way (my favorite is “Sweet Potato Rag). It also has great renditions of a couple of nearly forgotten country ballads — Porter Wagoner’s hit, “I Thought I Heard You Calling My Name,” and a one-time winner for Jimmy Dickens’ “Another Bridge to Burn.” Maybe it’s just the incredible soulful vocal delivery, but these two ballads really won me over. And, it’s tough to take a pass on the old Marty Robbins tune, “At the End of a Long, Lonely Day.”
The lineup on the CD is essentially Paisley’s road band, including brother Michael on bass, brothers TJ Lundy on fiddle and Bob Lundy on banjo, and Donnie Eldreth on mandolin.
The Lundys and Paisleys share a long history of making music together. Their fathers played together for years, and the Paisley boys and Lundy boys performed together when they were youngsters.
Paisley doesn’t shift far away from the formula he’s uses on stage and in past projects. He evidentally believes there’s still room in today’s diverse bluegrass marketplace for the traditional sounds. Rounder Records apparently shares that belief — and we all benefit. “The Room Over Mine” is the real deal.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...You might also like to read these related news items:
