Alan Munde Gazette (L-R) Steve Smith, Bill Honker, Nate Lee, Elliott Rogers and Alan Munde
Is there such a thing as a parking lot banjo picker who doesn’t drop Alan Munde’s name before the jam session ends?
Probably not, and rightly so, since Munde’s been carving out his own unique peaks in the banjo and bluegrass landscape for decades. Now, he’s carved another one, his latest CD, Made to Last by Alan Munde Gazette on Munde’s Child Records.
The Gazette, obviously a salute to the landmark Country Gazette, which included Munde for 20-plus years, is a top notch group of singers, songwriters and musicians from the Southwest, which is Munde country. They’ve put together 12 tracks of enjoyable music on Made to Last, including the title cut, written by bass player Bill Honker. It’s a song about a mining town that’s long past its heyday but not past the indelible marks that mining has left on the community.
Alan Munde Gazette "Made To Last" (Munde's Child Records)
Honker also wrote another gem for the CD, “Above the Waterline,” which was inspired by the time he spent in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Guitarist Elliott Rogers wrote four of the CD’s tunes, including the outstanding “Haul Away,” a ballad done here as a simple duo with Rogers and mandolinist Steve Smith. It’s a sweet-sounding melody with some very outstanding vocal work.
Smith brings a unique, bluesy type of vocal style to the Gazette, and he uses it to full advantage on the traditional “John Hardy,” which commonly is played as an instrumental but gets a great vocal going-over here in this rendition.
And, of course, there are instrumentals on this CD. After all, this is Alan Munde we’re talking about here. He throws a couple of originals in — “Traditional Family Breakdown” and “The Run of ’89.” And, Munde and the new Gazette pay homage to Bill Monroe with a fine version of “Brown County Breakdown.” On the latter, fiddler Nate Lee shines with a twin-fiddle break. While it’s probably safe to say without offending anyone that the Gazette generally includes graying veterans of the business, Lee is the young buck in the pack at barely two decades old.
Munde fans — actually most pickers, no matter what their instrument — will enjoy Munde’s track-by-track notes, especially those that talk about the key a particular song is played in and the other musical tidbits that are thrown in.
Munde, indeed, has been around bluegrass for a couple of generations. And, he’s still pulling off some great, left-of-center (left of Scruggs?) banjo antics. With his Gazette, he’s found a great group of allies to carry on. Just like the new CD, it sounds like they’re made to last.
Made to Last and other Munde goodies are available at http://alanmundegazette.com.