John Starling & Carolina Star – Slidin Home
When you can find a fresh, enticing way to cover the Lowell George/Little Feat warhorse Willin, youre doing something right. John Starling & Carolina Star featuring Mike Auldridge and Tom Gray, Starlings former bandmates in the Seldom Scene burrow to the songs plaintive heart without a lot of fuss and bother. In fact, the threesome and their bevy of guest and studio musicians get pretty much everything right on the easygoing Slidin Home. Their laid-back approach may not be the most exciting thing in current bluegrass circles, but Starling & Co. are terrific musicians who are as adept at rendering the understated irony of Jimmie Rodgers Waiting For A Train as they are at turning cynical and short-tempered in Cold Hard Business, Roger Rasnakes snarling swipe at musics unlovely side. The boys also do the Gram/Emmylou staple In My Hour Of Darkness proud, with Harris herself on harmony vocals.