I met Tony Kakaris for this first time this summer at an Indiana bluegrass festival. We had come across the same, small circle of jammers and joined in. It doesn’t take long in these musical adventures with rank strangers to hone in to those who are somewhat on the same wave length as you’re emitting. For me, Tony and I were riding that same frequency. He’s a darn good vocalist, good banjo picker, knows a bunch of good songs and is an all-around super guy.

We didn’t talk much about our current musical endeavors, but weeks after I returned from that Hoosier holiday, I received a CD in the mail, “The Picture,” by a band named Buckeye Ridge. And there, on the back of the CD is a band photo with Tony, the banjo picker with the group. So yes, Tony, my newfound friend, sure I’ll give this thing a few spins and then let you, your bandmates and BluegrassJournal.com readers know my own spin on your CD.

First, make no mistake, Tony’s not the star of this show (although he does turn in a very nice supporting role). Secondly, don’t make the mistake of hunting this group down on the Internet. The Web site that does come up for Buckeye Ridge is not this band. Since Tony Kakaris is from the Cincinatti area, I’d assume the same goes for the band.

Back to the CD. It’s very noteworthy to mention that all the songs on the 12-track disc were written by two band members, Glen Branham, who plays mandolin, and guitarist Greg Beasley. Judging from that, I would assume these two are also the driving force behind the group.

It’s even more noteworthy to point out that these are pretty good tunes the duo has written. They’re generally earthy songs with stories that will definitely appeal to traditional bluegrass followers. I was especially drawn to “Rusty Old Mailbox,” and mistakenly thought it might have been a title cut to an older Don Rigsby CD. Not so, according to Greg Beasley, who set me straight via an e-mail exchange and corrected me on Rigsby’s song, which was “Empty Old Mailbox.”

“Our song is about my grandparents and the home I grew up in eastern Kentucky,” Beasley said in an e-mail.

Those type of reflections run pretty deep and solid through “The Picture.” They are tunes about “Leavin’ Tonight for Old Kentucky” and “Little White Church.”

I was also a bit mezmerized by the vocal work of Buckeye Ridge’s youngest member, Emily Beasley, who I understand was 13 at the time of this recording. She’s Greg Beasley’s daughter, and dad calls her “a perfect picture of our musical culture.”

Emily, who does some mandolin work with the band, has a rather prominent harmony voice on most of the vocal numbers and steps up to take the lead on two tunes, “Momma” and “I Miss You.” At times, her lead singing gives an indication that here’s a great voice with a lot of potential that still needs to mature a bit. That would be the case on “Momma.” At other times, the vocal ripening process seems complete — and done to satisfaction. That’s the case with “I Miss You.” Whatever, Emily, forge ahead — you’ve got a good thing growing and something pretty solid to build on.

Although the instrumental work on “The Picture” isn’t up to super-picker status, it’s solid and pleasant throughout.

All in all, this is a fine CD that fans of this group and lovers of traditional bluegrass will enjoy.

As stated earlier, I haven’t been able to find a Web page for this group, but the CD cover lists Beasley’s e-mail address as a contact. It’s gregorybeasley@sbcglobal.net.