Album Notes

Here are the liner notes by Tony Trischka: "From the opening ferocity of the cell/banjo duet on "Unhinged" through the closing sweetness of children's voices hooking you into "Live Bait", this is one blast of a banjo romp, filled with surprises and constant satisfactions.

With unflagging creativity and flawless timing, Ben Freed's stewardship of a new millennial New York bluegrass sound is steady-as-she-goes while perforating boundaries. His solid banjo work Scruggses, melodicizes, and syncopates and does whatever else Ben wants it to do to illuminate his original compositions. Right...he wrote every dang tune, and in an additional ploy to win the bluegrass renaissance man of the year award, plays dobro, pedal steel and bass--very well, I might add.

The accompanying musicians catch the spirit--Kenny Kosek's luscious twin fiddle armadas, Jon Sholle's exquisitely etched electric guitar lines, Barry Mitterhoff's sweetly lyrical mandolin streams, Rushad Elggleston's propulsive and almost impossible to believe cello odyssey's, Jim Whitney's anchoring bass leaps, and the kudos can go on and on and on.

There's so much to hear here. But the music's never cluttered, just filled with unfettered brilliance at every turn. Ben's vision makes this a banjo album for the ages."