Album Review: Lindsay Lou Presents: Bluegrass Women
On her exhilarating new album ‘Bluegrass Women,’ guitarist, singer, and songwriter Lindsay Lou and twenty or so of her good friends got together to pay tribute to and honor women songwriters. This exalted collection features a stellar cast of musicians that includes Molly Tuttle, Bronwyn, Laurie Lewis, Gena Britt, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, Sierra Hull, Alison Brown, Maddie Witler. Those musicians and others are playing and singing songs written by artists such as Dorothy Skaggs (Ricky Skaggs’ mother), Jean Richie, Ole Belle Reed, Kate Wolf, and Joyce Morris and Jimmie Stanley (Ralph Stanley’s wife).
The twin fiddles and ethereal harmonies of Tatiana Hargreaves and Laurie Lewis kick off the waltzing version of Skagg’s “All I Ever Loved Was You,” featuring Witler’s crystalline mandolin licks and Brown’s lilting banjo rolls on the instrumental bridge. Gospel-inflected harmony vocals slide into spiraling twin fiddles at the song’s close.
Courtney Hartman’s rapid- fire finger-picking opens Wolf’s “Like a River,” which rushes along, driven by Britt’s hard charging banjo rolls, Bronwyn’s fiery fiddling, and AJ Lee’s searing mandolin picking. Hull’s crisp mandolin riffs dart under and around Britt’s and Allison de Groot’s banjo rolls on the high lonesome, old time ballad version of Ola Belle Reed’s “High on a Mountain,” while the harmony vocals of Lou, Hargreaves, and bassist Hasee Ciaccio flow over layers of spry mandolin, banjo, and fiddle in the jaunty barn dance number “Jubilee,” written by Jean Richie.
Brown’s banjo picking, Witler’s mandolin riffs, and Hargreaves’ fiddling swirl around one another, providing a rich instrumental layer beneath Hargreaves and Phoebe Hunt’s rich harmony vocals on Hazel Dickens’ “Won’t You Come and Sing for Me.” Hartman’s sparkling guitar picking lies beneath Andrews Sisters-like harmonies on the bright blues pop version of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train,” with Bronwyn, Lee, and Britt stretching out on fiddle, mandolin, and banjo on the instrumental bridges.
The album closes with an emotionally stirring gospel version of Rosa Lee and Doc Watson’s “Your Lone Journey.” Along with the album, Lou will be also releasing a four-part mini-documentary filmed during the sessions on her YouTube channel.
Every song on ‘Bluegrass Women’ sparkles with pure harmonies and shimmering instrumentation. On this lovingly crafted album, the deep passion of the musicians flows out of the speakers and into our hearts and souls. We can only hope that Lindsay Lou may have a second volume in the works.
