Best Music šŸŽµ of 2025!

musicjunkiegreg said:
Starting it now. I'll report back (may not finish til later - it is Mother's Day šŸ˜‰)
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@Nee Lewman - as promised (and you know I like my write-ups)..

I was able knock out the album in one sitting. In all honesty, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. And I'm not blowing smoke up your ass - I legitimately enjoyed all 88 minutes and 20 tracks. Both Billy and Bryan are excellent guitarists. I'm really impressed! There's some insane picking all over this one! Some of that picking is pretty metal šŸ¤˜ lol. I caught myself doing the "stink face" a few times during some of those picking sessions.

With what I've previously shared with you about my overall dislike of country-style vocals, the vocals here are better than anticipated. That being said, I'm not crazy at all about the actual lyrics, but in the hour-and-a-half here, I realized that lyrics are part of what makes the genre unique I guess. The conversations and banter with the crowd between songs and B and B's down-to-earth nature likely helped me appreciate their vocals and lyrics more than I typically would have. The vocals and the guitar playing flow so naturally - it's not forced at all. I feel like if I had listened to this as a typical studio album and not as a live album with these crowd interactions, I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much. Hell, this probably sounds better than any studio album would have sounded anyway.

And now, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that seeing this performed live would be the best way for me to experience this. Truly. Especially in a smaller, intimate venue like an American Legion (fuck large arena performances). Yeah, I could easily see myself at a table with an order of food and a beer listening to this with just a handful of other people in the room. The best concerts are always the smaller, more intimate ones.

Now you said these were covers of Doc Watson songs? I've never heard anything before from Billy, or Bryan, or Doc Watson. I'm assuming you have? How does this live album compare to the originals by Doc? And how does this compare to B and B's studio albums? Is this B and B's first collab?

Glad I gave this album chance. I'll still be avoiding just about all of the big country highways, but maybe the small bluegrass route is one I'll trod down once in awhile going forward.

Thanks for the rec, Lee.
 
musicjunkiegreg said:
@Nee Lewman - as promised (and you know I like my write-ups)..

I was able knock out the album in one sitting. In all honesty, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. And I'm not blowing smoke up your ass - I legitimately enjoyed all 88 minutes and 20 tracks. Both Billy and Bryan are excellent guitarists. I'm really impressed! There's some insane picking all over this one! Some of that picking is pretty metal šŸ¤˜ lol. I caught myself doing the "stink face" a few times during some of those picking sessions.

With what I've previously shared with you about my overall dislike of country-style vocals, the vocals here are better than anticipated. That being said, I'm not crazy at all about the actual lyrics, but in the hour-and-a-half here, I realized that lyrics are part of what makes the genre unique I guess. The conversations and banter with the crowd between songs and B and B's down-to-earth nature likely helped me appreciate their vocals and lyrics more than I typically would have. The vocals and the guitar playing flow so naturally - it's not forced at all. I feel like if I had listened to this as a typical studio album and not as a live album with these crowd interactions, I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much. Hell, this probably sounds better than any studio album would have sounded anyway.

And now, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that seeing this performed live would be the best way for me to experience this. Truly. Especially in a smaller, intimate venue like an American Legion (fuck large arena performances). Yeah, I could easily see myself at a table with an order of food and a beer listening to this with just a handful of other people in the room. The best concerts are always the smaller, more intimate ones.

Now you said these were covers of Doc Watson songs? I've never heard anything before from Billy, or Bryan, or Doc Watson. I'm assuming you have? How does this live album compare to the originals by Doc? And how does this compare to B and B's studio albums? Is this B and B's first collab?

Glad I gave this album chance. I'll still be avoiding just about all of the big country highways, but maybe the small bluegrass route is one I'll trod down once in awhile going forward.

Thanks for the rec, Lee.
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I wonā€™t steal to much of this reply. Billy is a very versatile player, loves his metal! So it was fun to hear that about his picking. Rabbit hole some of his sit ins. Tool, Dead material, and thrash metal type bands.

Edit:




 
musicjunkiegreg said:
@Nee Lewman - as promised (and you know I like my write-ups)..

I was able knock out the album in one sitting. In all honesty, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. And I'm not blowing smoke up your ass - I legitimately enjoyed all 88 minutes and 20 tracks. Both Billy and Bryan are excellent guitarists. I'm really impressed! There's some insane picking all over this one! Some of that picking is pretty metal šŸ¤˜ lol. I caught myself doing the "stink face" a few times during some of those picking sessions.

With what I've previously shared with you about my overall dislike of country-style vocals, the vocals here are better than anticipated. That being said, I'm not crazy at all about the actual lyrics, but in the hour-and-a-half here, I realized that lyrics are part of what makes the genre unique I guess. The conversations and banter with the crowd between songs and B and B's down-to-earth nature likely helped me appreciate their vocals and lyrics more than I typically would have. The vocals and the guitar playing flow so naturally - it's not forced at all. I feel like if I had listened to this as a typical studio album and not as a live album with these crowd interactions, I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much. Hell, this probably sounds better than any studio album would have sounded anyway.

And now, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking that seeing this performed live would be the best way for me to experience this. Truly. Especially in a smaller, intimate venue like an American Legion (fuck large arena performances). Yeah, I could easily see myself at a table with an order of food and a beer listening to this with just a handful of other people in the room. The best concerts are always the smaller, more intimate ones.

Now you said these were covers of Doc Watson songs? I've never heard anything before from Billy, or Bryan, or Doc Watson. I'm assuming you have? How does this live album compare to the originals by Doc? And how does this compare to B and B's studio albums? Is this B and B's first collab?

Glad I gave this album chance. I'll still be avoiding just about all of the big country highways, but maybe the small bluegrass route is one I'll trod down once in awhile going forward.

Thanks for the rec, Lee.
Click to expand...
Doc was a force of nature. There are several live albums that you might dig. I was into Bluegrass solely as a live music that I encountered randomly for about ten years before I really started to dive deep into the music. My first experience was a little band that played in the lawn of my Grandfatherā€™s church when I was like 16 years old. I was floored by the way these guys played.

I donā€™t really know Suttonā€™s solo material but will be diving into that as I recently found out heā€™s from Asheville. I mainly knew him as the original guitarist for Punch Brothers. He was on Thile album and tour that ā€œgrewā€ that band. (Thereā€™s a fun pun there). He is a noted session player having played for just about everyone in Nashville with notable contributions to Dollyā€™s Little Sparrow and the Dixie Chicks discography.

Billy is an odd bird. People are often attracted by his speed and heā€™s really not that quick! He has a very improvised style which when combined with a progressive approach to bluegrass means he has attracted the jam band crowd in a big way. His live shows are spectacles. I think Renewal and Highway Prayers are his best studio work. His live stuff is always a blast though, especially when he busts out stuff like covers of War Pigs and what not.

And Iā€™m gonna suggest you check out Molly Tuttle, her voice and picking and progressive approach may appeal to you as well.
 
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