The Infamous Stringdusters - "Fork In The Road"

I first heard of and heard these guys at Summergrass in San Diego a couple of years ago. They're a bluegrass band formed of young musicians from back east that all went to Nashville in pursuit of music careers. When I first heard them they were getting ready to record this album. I was impressed with their playing, and they became a favorite of a friend who I went with to Summergrass. He caught a concert of theirs during a trip to Carolina a while later and as a result of getting on their mailing list, emailed me when they came back to Orange County last fall and played as part of a monthly concert series for top acoustic talent called Lord of the Strings that is put on here in Orange County. I went to that concert, which was held in a small theatre. This is one I actually picked up the album. It struck me as funny that the first time I heard them it had cost me $15 to hear a full day of bluegrass music, with them being one of the bands. This time it was $25 to hear just them. They're coming back for Summergrass 2008, so I will get to see them again for $15.

As far as the album goes, it's has a surprisingly broad range for a debut album. There are several traditional style instrumentals, a mix of vocal numbers, and some more modern sounding arrangements, including a cover of John Mayer's "3x5". "Poor Boy's Delight" is a lovely waltz with sweet lyrics that I would love to dance to with someone. It's the first song off the album that I learned the vocal to. The band members share singing duties, and in fact the feel of the group is very much like a bunch of people just jamming together. The one thing they lack that I enjoy about most of the other bluegrass albums in my collection is vocal harmony. They do some, but it's more background type vocal filling rather than actual vocal harmony for a song. But hey, they're young. I'll cut them some slack. You can check them out on Amazon.