Old-Time
Herald,
Winter 97/98
“This
album is predominantly West Virginia-flavored (tunes from Melvin Wine,
Burl Hammons, Henry Reed and French Carpenter), though it contains other
sounds as well-Fred Cockerham’s “Roustabout”, a Galax-ish “Stillhouse”-and
an enjoyable variety of songs, raggy tunes, parlor pieces, and big
string band numbers.
I
love the plunky sound of
Diane’s banjo. The
Scruggs-style and clawhammer banjo duet on “Going Down the Mobie
Line” is lively and fun, the song a great one.
Dave Bing and Diane play a lilty “Horny Yowe”.
Diane’s solo of Burl Hammons” “Singing Birds” rings
sweetly. Hubie does a
beautiful job on several banjo “pieces”:
“Coal Creek March”, “Home Sweet Home”, “Murrillo’s
Lesson”, and “Lost Gander”.
The
banjo duets are wonderful and should be encouraged and praised.
The
playing is good, the tunes are good and the songs are good.”
~ Molly
Tenenbaum
Banjo
Newsletter, January
1998
“When I listened
to this CD I got not one, but TWO great banjo players, playing some very
traditional tunes in what I can only refer to as a straight-forward,
take no prisoner old-time style-with a capital “S”!
Diane
plays a wonderful and traditional style of clawhammer.
Hubie plays traditional and Scruggs finger styles.
Diane has a wonderful voice, and Hubie’s voice, while rougher,
still sings in tune with nice lilt.
While each of them contribute some incredible stand alone banjo
tunes, there is nothing like the sound of the two of them playing
together-wait till you hear them play a banjo duet of “Cumberland
Gap” with clawhammer
AND Scruggs style pickin’!
Here’s 22 tunes and not a clinker among the set-over 70 minutes
of great banjo music.”
~
Dan Levenson
Music
Hound Folk Guide,
1998
“Diane
is a rock-solid clawhammer banjo player and plays with exceptional
clarity.
Her control of the instrument stands out on solo banjo pieces
like “Singing Birds”, which ought to be required listening for those
aspiring to play this style.
Her voice is strong and without affect, a big plus when singing
traditional songs, and she excels at providing banjo accompaniment to
the fiddle of both Dave Bing and Pete Vigour.
Hubie plays both clawhammer and fingerpicking styles and it’s
the latter that really shines on this recording.
Diane
and Hubie team up to combine the clawhammer and fingerstyle on a couple
of tunes.
This is difficult to do and have it sound right, but they
succeed.
The liner notes are comprehensive, including the tuning of
the instruments”.
~
Dave Shombert
Bluegrass
Unlimited,
1998
“In
the extensive liner notes, Jones describes her style as more rhythmic
and King’s as more melodic.
That is certainly accurate, and both of them are very good.
On this recording they play together and separately and with
fiddlers Dave Bing and Pete Vigour on a few cuts each.
Chris King and Dave Bing take turns accompanying on guitar.
King
plays Scruggs style to accompany Jones and her clawhammer banjo on
“Going Down the Mobie Line”.
He also plays some two-finger banjo on some cuts.
His playing is especially beautiful on his medley of “Home
Sweet Home/Murrillo’s Lesson”.
Another
excellent medley is created from two versions of the exquisitely crooked
“Camp Chase” with Jones playing clawhammer and King dancing around
her with two fingers.”
~
Steve Goldfield
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