From Virginia and Minnesota respectively, Smith and Sanders play a mixture of bluegrass and Americana, whilst it’s not exactly down home and dirty, there is still a pervading authenticity at work here.Smith’s mandolin playing is exquisite on tracks such as “Year Of Jubilee” and the instrumental “Mice On The Stove”. S and S dwell in the environs between areas occupied by The Wailin’ Jennys and say Golden Smog, there are times when the playing achieves the effortless fluidity of Emmylou’s classic Hot Band line ups, as displayed on “John Sieverts Blues” where the fiddle playing of Megan Lynch glides in and out of the harmonies.
Signs Along the Road hovers between the Wild West and the New West, but works best where the boundaries between their two styles are more clearly defined, too often it falls between two barstools and it just ends up as prairie landfill. During those moments you long for the joie de vivre and exuberance of someone like Dillard and Clarke or the spirit of Flatt and Scruggs, which Smith and Sanders seem to aspire to.
|
Desert Nite Records official site
|
