BALSAM RANGE, "Mountain Overture," Mountain Home. 10 tracks.
Balsam Range has joined with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble for a greatest hits album.
It sounds great.
But you have to wonder about the target audience.
Do bluegrass fans really want an orchestra backing the band?
And do orchestra fans really want bluegrass with their pops ensemble?
With a cello, flute, French horn, trumpet, trombone and drums, it would be a stretch to call this a bluegrass album.
But whatever you call it, it's good.
Songs include "Trains I Missed," the 2011 International Bluegrass Music Association's song of the year.
"Blue Mountain" is a ballad about a man who's been searching the country, trying to find out who he really is, but discovering that he left his soul with the woman he left behind.
"Eldorado Blue" is about a woman who married and settled in her hometown rather than follow her friends to the big city.
"From A Georgia Battlefield" and "Burning Georgia Down" are songs about the Civil War.
"Any Old Road (Will Take You There)" says if you don't know where you're going, it doesn't matter which road you take to get there.
"Jack Diamond" is about a man setting out to kill the people who murdered his family and left him for dead.
"Matthew" is a John Denver song about a man who survived life's traumas with faith and love.
"Last Train To Kitty Hawk" is about the birth of aviation, the demise of railroads and the changes that progress brings.
And "I Hear The Mountains" is about a man who hears his home calling him back.
A good album for fans with a loose interpretation of bluegrass.
Can't find it in stores? Try amazon.com.
