With
Chambergrass: A Decade of Tunes From the Edges of Bluegrass
,
Sugar Hill Records
collects a decade of
Berline + Crary + Hickman
's
instrumentals
. These are songs from the edges of
bluegrass
-- delicate and intricate numbers that explore the textures that can be created with fiddle, banjo, and guitar and an eye toward normally excluded genres like
jazz
pop
, and
rock
. Call it
progressive bluegrass
.
Byron Berline
, for one, played fiddle as a session musician for the original
alternative country
Cosmic American,
Gram Parsons
, and his musical repartee with banjo player
John Hickman
and guitarist
Dan Crary
-- as well as the trio's gift for experimentation -- is fully evident in this collection. Whether on reworked
traditionals
(
"Forked Deer"
), subtle live outtakes (
Berline
's autumnal
"Fall Creek"
), or stunning originals (
's frantic
"Pistol Pete,"
Crary
's quiet and starry
"Night Run"
),
played wonderfully with chord changes, harmony,
's innovative rhythmic guitar, and the counterpoint of fiddle and banjo.
were equally lauded and derided by
fans during their '70s and '80s heyday, a telltale sign that they're something worth listening to. ~ Charles Spano