Bluegrass

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday February 12, 2011

Bruce Elder

VARIOUS ARTISTSSouthern Filibuster:A Tribute to Tut Taylor(E1)RATING: 4/5It is hard to admire tribute albums. They seem so formulaic and contrived. Find a bunch of musicians, record strange versions of some great songwriter's output and declare it a "tribute" when really it is nothing more than tripe.Here is an exception. The difference can be summed up in one word: virtuosity. Tut Taylor was a founding father of bluegrass dobro playing. Now a group of dobro-playing acolytes, led by Jerry Douglas, have recorded 14 of Taylor's tunes.It's a fitting tribute to an 87-year-old legend. There's nothing flash or crass about this recording. This is simply a collection of admirers picking a favourite tune from Taylor's rich repertoire, surrounding themselves with the cream of the current crop of bluegrass players (there is some truly amazing fiddle and banjo playing by musicians who are not even credited on the cover) and performing.The result is a sublime collection of back-porch bluegrass. There are no vocals, just astonishing musicianship from performers who most people, apart from hardcore bluegrass fans, will never have heard of. Still, the playing from dobro masters such as Randy Kohrs, who plays a moody blues, and Jerry Douglas, who opens the album with an exuberant rendition of Southern Filibuster, is a reminder of the vast depth of talent that exists in American roots music. LIKE THIS? TRY THESEVarious artists, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack; various artists, The Great Dobro Sessions