Satisfied

iTunes Review

These two wily Greenwich Village folk veterans met as students at NYU and as pickers in the Washington Square Park jam sessions. It was four decades later that singer/guitarist Sebastian and mandolinist Grisman finally reconnected, and that reunion spawned this unassuming recording, a nostalgic, low-key stroll. There are moments here worth savoring, such as the gentle, light-hearted reading of Mississippi John Hurt’s “I’m Satisfied” and the slowed-down, grooved-up version of “EMD,” the jazzy newgrass classic that kicked off Grisman’s debut Quintet album. “Walk Right Back,” Sonny Curtis’s country-pop chestnut, is given a delightfully understated instrumental treatment, as is Will Shade’s “Jug Band Waltz” (with Sebastian on harp) and Grisman’s original “Dawg’s Waltz” (originally recorded with Jerry Garcia). The pair even takes a crack at the Spoonful’s “Coconut Grove,” although their brief amble through Sebastian’s “Daydream” is hidden at the end of the final track.