The second band that caught my attention yesterday was Acoustic Endeavors and their album On a Farm. On a Farm is a 2005 release from a band formed by Warren Anderson and Kelly Green in 1992, when they realized they needed an outlet for their music. The band now calls Anderson’s hometown Roanoke, Virginia home. Through the years musicians have shift around the core of Anderson and Green the current line-up consists of:
Warren Anderson – bass, mandolin and vocals
Kelly Green – guitar and vocals
Dewey Peters – guitar
John Lawless – banjo and vocals
Billy Hurt – fiddle
The band’s music ranges from bluegrass, gospel, folk/Americana, to Alt. Country and Anderson and Lawless share the vocal duties with Kelly Green. Top tracks include the opening bluegrass track “Hills of Home”, “True Love Takes Two” another bluegrass track with some fine banjo and fiddle. I liked the folkie “All Those Pennies” and “I Could Leave Here”
A member of the current band John Lawless is a great banjo player and I have his album Five & Dime in my library and it is a fine album from a review at CD Universe
Lawless is joined by great pickers like mandolinist Alan Bibey, guitarists Kenny Smith and Tim Stafford, Dobroist Rob Ickes, and fiddler Ron Stewart. Most of the material has been written by Lawless, and he maintains a fine line between traditional bluegrass and its more contemporary counterpart. A spunky piece like “On the Bean,” for instance, moves along at a happy, free-rolling pace, reminding one of recent work by bands like New Grange. “The Guilty Pig’s” fiddle/banjo lineup, on the other hand, is reminiscent of the type of music one might have heard at a house party in Appalachia before the advent of sound recording. Finally, there’s a piece like “How R Ya Waltz,” which — being a waltz — is in a category all by itself. Lawless is a fine picker who expands the banjo’s normal range with his ability to play in a distinctive single-note style and his willingness to add odds and ends like bits of the blues.
I think I may put that album back on the player and give it a few listens. Looking at the personnel on the album Dewey Peters plays guitar and Warren Anderson and Kelly Green add background vocals!
Here’s a Sample of Acoustic Endeavor’s music! Check’em Out!
