CD Insight

With each song dedicated to a family member or friend, guitarist/singer Ma Crow clearly shows what’s important in her life…along with traditional mountain music, of course. While currently based in Cincinnati, Ma Crow’s roots extend back to Scott County, Tn. where she’d wander the hills and meadows of the Cumberland Plateau. Her musical vision for <i>Smoky Junction</i> was to revisit the wonderful front porch music that nostalgically harkens back to simpler days full of happiness, contentment, love and honesty. Perhaps that same vision is why Father of Bluegrass Music Bill Monroe once simply called his music “heartfelt music.” Crow taps into traditional repertoire, as well as offerings from the likes of Sarah Carter, Louvin Brothers, Hazel Dickens, Don Stover, Delmore Brothers, Redd Stewart/Pee Wee King, and even Gram Parsons. Thus, her influences range from old-time to folk, brother duets to bluegrass, classic country to spiritual. Opening with “I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages” is an expressive way to not only pay tribute to her deceased East Tn. ancestors but to also take us “homeward bound” up “on the mountain.” Her vocal style is more restrained than, say, the same song done by Ralph Stanley, Larry Sparks or Flatt & Scruggs, but it’s a nice contrast. She can still impart plenty of drive into a song like Hank Bradley and Larry Hanks’ “The Lonesome Cowboy’s Breakfast,” but I must confess to having a slight preference for Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin’s rendition.

Ma Crow’s a longtime veteran of folk and bluegrass music with many years of regional performing experience, most notably with the all-woman band of Katie Laur, another native of Tennessee who makes her home in Cincinnati. More recently, Ma Crow played with The Motherpluckers (nominated for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award), and The Lady Slippers (which formed in May, 2011). That all-woman quartet features beautiful acoustic music and sweet harmonies. This album features many of Ma Crow’s current picking pals, most conspicuously the proficient multi-instrumentalist Trina Emig who appears on every cut. She’s a solid contributor, especially with banjo and mandolin, and I understand that she even has her own instrumental album out. The other two members of The Lady Slippers appear in fairly minor roles. Bassist Vicki Abbott plays on “Foggy Mountain Top,” and Margie Drees sings harmony on that cut and “Thy Burdens are Greater than Mine.” This album also has a prevalence of Jim Huey’s Dobro and Sylvia Mitchell’s fiddle. To varying degrees, other instrumental guests on this CD include Natalie Cunningham (bass), Laura Hasek (fiddle), Andy King (guitar), Brad Meinerding (mandolin, guitar), and Meghan Coil (fiddle). My guess is that most of them are regional musicians from the Cincinnati area. For a little variation in the set, Andy King also sings the lead vocals on “Things in Life,” a song that is perhaps banjo-player Don Stover’s best known composition.

Ma Crow and friends have created a pleasant, low-key album. There are weekly Cincinnati radio shows called <i>Abbott’s Bluegrass Habit</i> and <i>Music from the Hills of Home</i>. I’d be surprised if these purveyors of old-time mountain music don’t find a fair amount of airplay on these shows. They embrace friendship, family, honesty and mountain music. We sincerely appreciate Ma Crow’s dedication and devotion to these values. (Joe Ross, CD Insight)