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| Review:
by John Ager - 4/01/03 The Fairview Town Crier My beef with a lot of bluegrass is the smell of nostalgia in the air: talented suburbanites singing about cabins in the laurel and sipping moonshine out of a fruit jar. Why don't they sing about split-levels in the cul-de-sac and sipping Mountain Dews at the 7-11?... I believe that sacred music is the final test of any musician, simply because your subject tries to touch what is most profound. Dropped into my hand is a CD entitled "Steady Love" by a mandolin player, Charles Pettee... Lizzie Hamilton, Fairview's own gift to Bluegrass (she's the fiddle player for the Steep Canyon Rangers), asked me to listen and to see what I thought. The first time I listened, I mostly heard her mournful fiddle playing that echoed so perfectly the various psalms in the collection. Take the first cut, Psalm 144 - "O Lord, what is man that you care?/ Or Son of Man that you notice?/ They are just like a breath,/ their days like a passing shadow." Mr. Pettee's clear, honest vocals in the best bluegrass tradition evoke the universal longing of man's search for meaning. For me, it turned Snuffy Smith into a real man. Brittany Whitmire sings the second cut, Psalm 37, with a country vocal style that fits so perfectly with the words. She could have been on her front porch soothing her husband in a moment of discouragement, and reminiscent of the gospel standard "Farther Along." "Be still before the Lord, wait patiently for Him. Fret not over those who prosper in their way." ... Let it be said that the music brings these old words new power, and pierces to our hearts as well. Back to News & Reviews |