November 2007Sam Bush continues
to deliver great entertainment with his well-known virtuoso mandolin, solid guitar and
fiddle playing, and competent vocals. The excellent opening track here, Julie
Millers "The Rivers Gonna Run," is more like rock than bluegrass.
But grass is just around the bend; track 2, Fred Roses "Bringing in the
Georgia Mail," hits overdrive. Fueled in large part by Scott Vestals
high-octane banjo pickin, its got an energy-packed acoustic-guitar solo by
Keith Sewell and interesting standup-bass licks by Byron House. Add Chris Browns
fine job on drums, and youve got the band, with only occasional additions or
subtractions. Those two songs represent the disc pretty well musically, except that a
couple tracks are instrumental. Remember "White Bird" by the
late-'60s/early-'70s rock band Its a Beautiful Day? ("White bird must fly or
she will die?") It is the 11th of this discs 12 tracks. Andrea Zonn does the
original Pattie Santos vocal to Bushs David LaFlamme in an arrangement that adds
violin and viola. Also included are John Hartfords "On the Road" and Leon
Russells "Ballad for a Soldier." The recording quality and mix are good
throughout; you can distinguish the individual instruments well.
Bushs slower songs usually add an R&B or gospel
sound rather than the occasional moving melody that would add greatly to his repertoire.
The driving-rhythms/speedy-tempos/lightning-solos approach also dominates Bushs
recently released On the Road DVD -- 16 onstage tracks from the Big Room at the
Sierra Nevada Brewery. Good stuff, but not as consistent as Laps in Seven.
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