Nate Leath and Friends
Volume 2
Patuxent Music 224

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A common lament heard in old time and bluegrass music circles at the end of the 20th Century went something like this: “All the old source musicians are gone, the revivalists of the 1970s are now senior citizens, and there are no young people coming along to take their places.” As the first decade of the new century progressed, however, while the fiddle and banjo contests at festivals like Clifftop, Galax, Mount Airy and Weiser were still featuring remaining masters like J. P. Fraley and Ralph Blizzard (both, sadly, now passed on), there was also the welcome and surprising presence of young faces – really young, many not yet even teenagers – who demonstrated not only extraordinary technical skill, but heart and soul to go with it.

North Carolinian Nate Leath was among that young crop raised in the music from an early age, and who understood the tradition. As he reached college age, he joined an increasingly significant number of young traditional musicians who went off to “high-tone” schools like Berklee and Julliard where they met like-minded peers eager to immerse themselves in the “old sounds” while using them as a basis to expand their own musical horizons. As time went by, more and more bands appeared on the scene whose members were alumni of this “acoustic mafia”, as some jokingly called it – Crooked Still, Joy Kills Sorrow and, in Leath’s case, Old School Freight Train, to name a few. The hallmark of these bands and the individual musicians was that, while they were often wildly eclectic and inventive, when they did play bluegrass or old time, they were spot on.

Though it wasn’t called Volume 1, this is a follow-up to Leath’s earlier Patuxent release Rockville Pike, and contains a couple of the same “friends” (quotes not intended to convey doubt or sarcasm, they obviously are truly kindred spirits), guitarist Danny Knicely and fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves, who like Leath was one of those incredibly young talents walking off with contest trophies time after time. Also part of this project is fellow Berklee alum Rushad Eggleston, an astonishing cellist who was an original member of Crooked Still, and older hands like the superlative guitarist David Grier and the Lonesome River Band’s Sammy Shelor, among the most respected bluegrass banjo pickers around. The roster also includes co-producer (with Patuxent head Tom Mindte) Nancy Sluys, a well-known and highly respected old time musician, like Leath from North Carolina.

The 16 tracks on Volume 2 are not so much a set “studio” piece as they are what one might hear on wandering by a campsite at say, Clifftop, and listening in on a jam session. The “Sally Ann” heard here is as driving and true to the Galax/Round Top style as can be found anywhere, and other classic favorites (though often with a twist) include “Jimmy Sutton” and “Sail Away ladies”, but there’s plenty of “outside the box” playing going on as well. Eggleston’s cello, in particular, may strike some as out of place, but it’s surprising how many cellos can be found at old time events. Through it all, Leath weaves in a variety of old time, bluegrass, Celtic, Cape Breton and other threads. It’s not “by the book”, but it’s as entertaining to listen to as it must have been to make it.

— John Lupton