*** Ronnie McCoury

HEARTBREAK TOWN

(Rounder)

There is no better bluegrass ensemble working today than the Del McCoury Band. These superb players possess flexibility, imagination, and passion, and in their hands bluegrass looks ahead as well as back. The McCourys were to the strings born, and Ronnie has borne it well, winning an armful of awards while developing into a fine producer (he co-produced The Mountain, the McCoury Band's collaboration with Steve Earle) and, slowly, into a leader.

Heartbreak Town is not quite his coming-out party; he and brother Rob (banjo) did that a couple years ago. But here he's completely in charge, producing, writing songs, singing a few leads, and picking impeccably in a style that acknowledges both Bill Monroe and the NoCal jazz leanings of David Grisman. The family ensemble, augmented by a number of talented friends, provides splendid, versatile support. Ronnie neither sings nor plays with the raw hunger his father can still summon; his is an easy, graceful sound, confident yet yearning. Heartbreak Town is, of course, only a beginning.

-- Grant Alden