PLAY this album (a prog rocker's/metal-head's view)
Whether you play guitar or not, if you consider yourself a "Guitar Geek," then you should enjoy this CD. Primarily a progressive hard rock/metal player & guitar teacher myself, I'm always looking to improve my ability while expanding my horizons. If you are a country music fan, guitarist or not, you'll still enjoy the album. It is mainly instrumental, but there are a few trax with vocals.
Since a lot of the current Country Music scene is "Cross-over Country" (into rock/pop), it is refreshing to hear an album like this. Things must be really bad because Brad himself (in the liner notes) thanks the label & fans for putting up with this "experimental album." When a mostly instrumental country-fried guitar album with a roster of some of the greatest axe-slingers as guests is considered "experimental," then it goes to show just how far gone the pop/hit concerned factory is from its earlier roots. The same has happened in other music categories as well.
Bottom Line: Kudos to Brad in assembling a stable of great guitarists on an album that emphasizes the power of instrumental music. Not only do Brad's friends kick it out, but of course so does Brad. A couple of months ago (somewhere in late '08 or early '09) GUITAR PLAYER magazine did a great article on him, and a ways before that, he made the cover of the same magazine (which is considered one of the most serious publications among professionals).
As stated earlier, country as a genre is not my usual category; I am very picky about what end of country I would actually spend money on. I personally lean towards and obsessively love the sub-category "Hot Country," as it's called. It not only emphasizes the guitar, but the more aggressive, skillful end of it. The lines could get a little blurry here. It is Hot Country or Rockabilly? Either way, the skill level of the guitar playing, along with high-octane speed & rhythms is what this metal-head enjoys, because I am a hard sell on most country that emphasizes just the vocals. I also love the pedal steel, fiddle and ripping banjo heard in a lot of bluegrass and some country. For me, these are the saving graces of the artform, including the foot-stompin', hip-swiveling rhythms of good drummers & bass players.
If you are approaching skillful guitarmanship from a rock/metal/blues background and want to go straight to the barn-burnin' stuff in the country/rockabilly realm, then I'll chuck out a few key names that will keep you impressed from purely a technical standpoint. These are the players the players look towards, guitarists' guitarists, as they say. This is by no means a complete list, but it should keep you googling, researching and cross-referencing for a while.
Chet Atkins, Flatt & Scruggs, Les Paul, Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West (pedal steel), all of the guitarists that worked with Elvis (Scotty Moore, James Burton, etc.), Johnny Cash, Albert Lee, Danny Gatton, Vince Gill, Junior Brown, Brad Paisley, Stray Cats (Rockabilly), Reverend Horton Heat (Psychobilly), and even metal guitarist (for Marilyn Manson) John 5 released an instrumental CD a few years ago that has some nice hot country/metal crossover. The influence that some of the above musicians have had is immeasurable. Also noteworthy for crash-course education is The Best of Sun Records Volumes 1 & 2. There is so much more that I haven't listed. Keep diggin' - the journey has just begun and is just as fun as the destination.- ROBT. JODHA, 2/09Read full review
