Oldtime.ca: The Acoustic Pages

....In the Life
Open Road (Rounder Records)

It is nice to hear a young group of bluegrass musicians plant a foot firmly in tradition without being obvious. Rightfully, people have identified Open Road with an older sound, but they don't have that archaic and dark modal sound that the Earl Brothers have picked up on, and they don't have that charged, blues-inflected proto rock 'n' roll sound of early Bill Monroe recordings. They have something sweeter about them, infused with the melancholy of early country music.

Far from the world of overproduced Nashville cats, these guys know their history and use that knowledge to good effect. Slowly paced, but with solid picking that stays close to the melody, their instrumentals have a sound reminiscent of the Stanley Brothers in their King Records years. Somewhere between the brother Carter and a younger Del McCoury, Bradford Lee Folk delivers vocals with the nonchalance of Mac Wiseman and the sweetness of Jim McReynolds. Appealingly nasal, the vocals are expressive but sung straight, owing a bit more to a gentle mountain style and early brother duets than the more forceful high lonesome holler associated with original bluegrass. The banjo lends to that classic feel - at times sounding something like a chopstick being thwacked against a thin metal frying pan - and the mandolin has a clear, sharp tone which stands in contrast to the rounder, mellower tones preferred by many contemporary players.

Although this is old school bluegrass in many respects, the song choices aren't obvious, with Open Road offering up a mix of covers and originals. The disc opens with an old Louvin Brothers song, "Bald Knob Arkansas," then moves on to a sauntering rendition of "What a Change One Day Can Make," but sung straight without overdoing the sentiment. There is some strong fiddle work on "Grey Eagle," and the slower paced instrumental "Suwannee River" is counterbalanced by "Cheyenne Mountain Breakdown," the fastest of the instrumentals, written by banjoist Keith Reed in honour of where he lives. "Pick Me Up (On Your Way Down)" is a country song that works very well, as does the George Jones song "One is a Lonely Number." "Southern Track," written by Bradford Lee Folk, is a nice bluegrass song with an Osborne Brothers feel to it, while "Sinkin' Man," the story of a cheating gambling man, has a minor edge and a pace clearly influenced by the vocal style of Del McCoury when he sings slow songs with that gentle, almost innocent tone in his voice (you know, like he's telling you something important but he wants to break it to you easy).

All in all, these boys are a pleasure to listen to, and come highly recommended.

To find out more about Open Road , or to hear samples of their music from this and other recordings, please visit openroadbluegrass.com