Jamie Dailey, who spent three years as featured lead singer for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and Darrin Vincent, a key member of Ricky Skaggs' Kentucky Thunder have joined forces in this outstanding new group that promises to be one of the highlight attractions on the Bluegrass circuit for the next several years (or as long as they stay together). The emphasis here is on duet singing in the classic, straight traditional Bluegrass style, with top flight instrumental backing as well (the excellent vocalist and mandolin picker Jeff Parker is a full time member of the group, as is Joe Dean, a fine banjo player --others brought in for this album include Stuart Duncan and Andy Leftwich on fiddles, and Bryan Sutton and Cody Kilby on guitars). This is tasteful, high-energy stuff, with the hard driving numbers like CUMBERLAND RIVER, DON'T YOU CALL MY NAME and SWEET CARRIE nicely offset by slower, sensitive pieces like the poignant MORE THAN A NAME ON A WALL. A really nice feature of this disc is the inclusion of three songs just done by Jaimie and Darrin themselves with mandolin and guitar: superb performances of BY THE MARK, MUSIC OF THE MOUNTAINS and MY SAVIOUR WALKS WITH ME TODAY. This is a gem of an album by a band that should have a great future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
