Lonesome Pines – After Sundown
Lonesome Pines are a bluegrass band made up of veteran musicians currently making waves in St. Louis and the surrounding area. These guys have spent years playing stuff besides bluegrass — blues, country, swing, rockabilly, and Cajun music — in various bands, separately and with each other.
In an age where a lot of their contemporaries seem interested in anything but the classic sounds of 1950s-era bluegrass, the Lonesome Pines are a breath of fresh air. Their singing and instrumental work is solid, and solidly within the tradition. Although they certainly can pick, the song is most definitely the point of focus here; while there is plenty of hot solo work, the emphasis is on tight ensemble playing and singing.
Guitarist/fiddler Gary Hunt and mandolinist/fiddler Thayne Bradford handle the lead vocals and make a darn good duet. On the trio and quartet numbers, dobro player Bob Breidenbach and bass player Vince Corkery pitch in. On classics such as Bill Monroe’s “Toy Heart” and Reno & Smiley’s “Country Boy Rock And Roll”, it becomes immediately obvious that the Lonesome Pines have done their homework. They know their way around these and other standards quite well, but have left their own stamp on them.
The originals — seven of the fourteen cuts were written by Hunt, with one hot instrumental by Breidenbach — sit well alongside the tried-and-true tunes. Hunt’s songs run the gamut from lost-love laments to gospel songs, including a Louvin-esque piece called “The Gift”.