James King – Bed By The Window

On his third album for Rounder, hard-core Virginia bluegrasser James King opted to use his road band, supplemented by the great Bobby Hicks as guest fiddler. That’s a gutsy move, considering the high caliber of the backup on his previous albums, and while it has a price, it sounds as though King is a tad more comfortable and loose with his regular companions.

As in the past, King reaches into the country catalog for some of the strongest material on his album. When he lays into Stonewall Jackson’s “Big House On The Corner” or Ernest Tubb’s “Yesterday’s Winner Is A Loser Today”, it’s a hardy soul that won’t snap to attention. Some bluegrass fans like to claim that the style doesn’t have much to do with country music, but you can’t tell it from King; it’s all country to him.

Banjo player Adam Poindexter knows how to back up a country song, and young Jason Moore is as solid as they come on bass. Mandolin player Kevin Prater, on the other hand, seems to be straining at times in the tenor role, though he also sounds enthusiastic and follows King’s lead well. Hicks, as always, is outstanding; King’s newest band member, Owen Saunders, contributes fiddle on two numbers, the durable “Sweeter Than The Flowers” and the snappy Country Gentlemen number “Wear A Red Rose”, which opens the album.

The title number, a purely pathetic tale of two residents in “a home for the elderly,” shows King isn’t afraid to take the memorable advice of Vern Williams: “Spill your guts on the stage and then walk in them.” Listeners who put a premium on emotional, heartfelt vocals should snap this album up.