Concept albums are fairly prevalent in music history, the idea having been more recently adopted within the bluegrass genre. Scott Hopkins, a banjoist and music instructor based in Albany, New York has taken a creative step forward with his second solo release. Just You is an album filled with positive love songs and performed as duets with those that Hopkins has collaborated with throughout his journey.
The album begins with the title track, Just You. Recorded with the writer of the song, Fred Lantz, this piece with banjo and mandolin sums up the entire concept of this project in just one song, finding joy and contentment with the one you truly love.
You’re That Much Woman To Me is a bittersweet track, as it features Hopkins alongside the late Smokey Greene, a fixture in the northeastern bluegrass community for a number of years. Greene was in fine voice on this recording. It’s a treasure to have one final performance from him on this project.
Flower Blooming In The Wildwood/Wildwood Flower features Joe Newberry on clawhammer banjo and lead vocals. This is a particularly strong performance that blends the bluegrass and old time banjo styles seamlessly.
I Told Them All About You features Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, who should be familiar to most fans from his time as a member of Tony Trischka & Skyline. Recorded by numerous artists since the late 1920s, this song spotlights Mitterhoff’s swing oriented playing and improvisational mastery.
The ultimate highlight of this release is Sure Fire Kisses. First recorded by Justin Tubb and Goldie Hill in October 1954, this track features Scott alongside Brittany Karlson on bass and vocals. Karlson delivers an incredibly powerful performance both vocally and instrumentally. It’s the perfect complement to Hopkins’ vocal and banjo work.
Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian is a song that should be familiar to any fans of the great singer/songwriter, John Prine. This performance pairs Hopkins with fellow banjo picker and New York native, Tony Trischka. This is a really fun track that shows the best of both Hopkins Trischka’s individual styles on the five string.
With the combination of the right songs and collaborators, Just You is a textbook example of how a concept album should be approached. Scott Hopkins came up with a creative approach, one that was executed extremely well by everyone involved.
