Blue Highway

Album Review

This is Blue Highway's first album for the Ceili label and it's an auspicious piece of work. The group members are all reaching the peak of their musical powers, both in terms of their instrumental prowess and their vocal skill. Factor in the strong songwriting of Shawn Lane and Tim Stafford and it all adds up to one of the most polished acts in bluegrass. The album features not only fiery instrumental work, as in "Lonesome Hearted Blues," but also a wonderful a cappella, rhythmic gospel number, "I Am Near the Gate" (written by Lane), a couple of tunes that approximate country music rather well ("Lonely Old Town" and "That Could Be You"), an evocative folklike version of Stafford's "Clay and Ottie," and the Western-flavored bluegrass sound of "I Hung My Head," a song written by Sting. Dobro player Rob Ickes is the primary IBMA award winner in this group but, as this self-titled release indicates, Blue Highway is a versatile and creative outfit. This album clearly ups the ante, but there's reason to believe that Blue Highway will achieve results at this level for some time to come.