This is the 5th album from a band that has been together since 1995 and it is a culmination not only of all their combined musical talents but also the influences of their travels which have taken them from Furnace Mountain to the waters of the Yangtzee. This no CD to visit casually, instead it is one to sit back and enjoy the range of Furnace Mountain’s musical mystery tours which are not just folk, bluegrass,old timey or Americana but rather a very pleasant mix of all the above in a genre-busting 12 tracks which allow all the band members to showcase their specific talents, yet without bragging or boring the listener.
Aimee Curl lays down a solid bass foundation for the intricate string skills of Danny Knicely, Morgan Morrison and David Van Deventer on fiddles, guitar, bouzouki and mandolin. Aimee and Morgan handle the vocal harmonies which sound as relaxed as a Sunday afternoon family sing-a-long on a back porch in their native Virginia.
W.B.Yeats "Fol De Rol" sounds just right next to Bob Dylan's "I Want You". The rest of the fine tunes and lyrics are drawn from a circle of friends' or are the band’s own compositions. I found it hard to pick out my favourite tracks but "The Crow on The Cradle" and the almost western swing lilt of "Bonaparte's Retreat" stand a little higher on my rating scale.
I fully agree with the comments on the cover from none other than Bruce Molsky; this CD made me happy from the first moment I listened to it and I found that The Road To Berryville runs closely parallel to the Lonesome Highway and should feature regularly on my radio shows.