A couple of years after the
pop
hits stopped,
Dan Fogelberg
took this detour down the
bluegrass
/
traditional
acoustic music road. The result is a fine collection of mostly original songs, an album that holds up better than much of his earlier, better-known work. Accompanied by some of Nashville's top studio aces,
Fogelberg
sings of the California gold rush in the beautiful
"Sutter's Mill,"
accompanies
Doc Watson
,
Jerry Douglas
and
David Grisman
on the instrumental
workout
"Wolf Creek,"
and leads his all-star group speeding through several other
-flavored rave-ups. There's a touch of
gospel
here as well, with
Vince Gill
Ricky Skaggs
pitching in on vocal harmonies. By the time of this album's release in the mid-'80s,
radio was no longer playing the music of mellow singer/songwriters like
, but the lovely ballad
"Go Down Easy"
found some airplay on
contemporary country
stations. Although the set-closing
"The Higher You Climb"
is a too-long slow drag similar to some of the singer's earlier overblown productions,
High Country Snows
is a surprising musical high point for
. ~ Jim Newsom