West coast mandolin master John Reischman has a new album of instrumental music, which he calls Walk Along John.
Like his varied career, the album’s 14 named tracks (with one secret) feature the stylistic mix his many admirers have come to expect. There’s blazing bluegrass, stately old time melodies, and even reckless, seat-of-the-pants improvgrass. To achieve these many moods, Reischman enlists artists well-suited to each one: Chris Thile, for whom John had once been a mentor; flat picking monster Kenny Smith; old time fiddle ace Bruce Molsky; crazed banjo wizard Tony Trischka, and John’s fellow Canadian, clawhammerer Chris Coole.
John has been so active this past decade with his own group, John Reischman & The Jaybirds, that it hardly seems possible that his last solo instrumental project was 1999’s Up In The Woods.
We’ll have more to say about Walk Along John once we have the chance for some repeated listening.
