One More For The Road features a great mix of classic bluegrass tunes from the public domain like “Let Me Fall” and “Drang’s Hornpipe” and newgrass sounding tracks like the title track (which was written by Mountain Heart’s Josh Schilling and songwriter Craig Market). Dan Tyminski, who is part of both Alison Krauss’ band and his own band, provides some stellar vocal work on “Let Me Fall” while Stuart Duncan’s fiddling and Adam’s mandolin playing are fiercely played but never too ‘showy,’ the way some bluegrass pieces can get.
The angelic vocals of Alison Krauss shine on the ballad “Warm Kentucky Sunshine” (listen here) and with members of her band and Tyminski’s own band filling in around Steffey’s mandolin. As to prove that he’s more than just a mandolin player, Adam takes the lead vocals on nearly half of the albums tracks and “A Broken Heart Keeps Beatin’” and the title track showcase off a nice bass tenor voice that could lead a whole album of vocal songs, particularly when Ronnie Bowman and Barry Bales (who co-produced One More For The Road with Gary Paczosa) provide harmonies. Kris Kristofferson’s “Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends” (listen here) is elegantly played here and Bowman’s stellar vocal really gives this classic song some real meat.
I had no expectations for One More For The Road except that I expected some great mandolin performances from Adam Steffey, who has won multiple “mandolin player of the year” awards from the IBMA. What I got was one of the best bluegrass (or acoustic music) albums that I’ve heard this year. What a treat.
You can support Adam Steffey by purchasing this album at iTunes | Amazon.
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