So today has been a good Twang Tuesday full of lots of good music! The day started with one of the albums I picked up the other night Lou Reid and Carolina’s current release My Own Set of Rules. You know it’s going to be a good day when you just love the first song that you hear and that’s what happened when I started this album up and heard the first track “Amanda Lynn”. I just thought that the voice sounded right and the pickin’ was great, too. Since then I’ve gone to their website and discovered that “Amanda Lynn” is currently No 1 on the Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 and the Bluegrass Music Profiles chart for April and was voted Song of the Year by the SPBMA (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music), Â not a bad way to start the day at all! Â And the rest of the album was pretty damn good, too. Â The album has a lot of standard bluegrass tracks like “She’s More to Be Pitied” , “In Despair” and “Lefthanded Dreamer” a great instrumental “Beat the Train” and several gospel tunes including “It’s Hard to Stumble, when you’re on your knees” and “Over in the Promised Land” Â the last track ” A Tall Cornstalk” with some great mandolin pickin’ by Lou is probably my favorite track on the CD.
The band calls Union Grove, North Carolina home and consists of:
Lou Reid , mandolin, lead and harmony vocals – (Reid has also been a member of Teh Seldom                  Scene for the last eighteen years)
Christy Reid, bass guitar, lead and harmony vocals
Shannon Slaughter: guitar, lead and harmony vocals
Trevor Watson: banjo and harmony vocals
and special guest artist: Ron Stewart on fiddle
Like I said I enjoyed this album a lot  Reid’s vocals are great and the lyrics are good and the pickin’ is also top self. So overall it gets a 4 out of 5 stars!
After that throughout the day I listened to two other CDs I picked up the other night Norman Blake’s Live at McCabe’s and after listening it one of those “What was I thinking” moments, Why have I not listened to this guy over the years. Absolutely great and I will be searching out more of his work! Then I listened to Jerry Douglas and Peter Rowan’s CD Yonder and what you would expect from two greats. Great dobro picking by Douglas and good vocals and pickin’ by Rowan. I read today that Compass Records has signed Rowan and he is working on a new CD!
Finally as the workday came to an end I made the great find of the day Greensky Bluegrass!! They will be the subject of Twang Tuesday – Part 2!