Darol Anger quickly reached monster status when he debuted with the David Grisman Quintet at 21 years of age in 1977. He went on to co-found the innovative Turtle Island Quartet and record more than a dozen albums, both under his name and as collaborations with other prominent string artists.
Of late his fascination has been showcasing and promoting younger musicians. Anger is currently an Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and his latest CD, E-And’A, finds him alongside a group of very talented pickers some years his junior. Joe Walsh from The Gibson Brothers in on mandolin, Courtney Hartman from Della Mae is on guitar, Sharon Gilchrist, late of the Tony Rice Unit on bass, and banjo champion Lukas Pool is tickling the five.
The tracks are a mix of classic fiddle tunes (Denver Belle, Fiddler’s Pastime), and new tunes written for the record. Darol says that it’s his first bluegrass album since Psychograss almost 10 years ago.
Here’s a live performance video of one of the tracks, called Pogo Big.
