Based on the name of this CD, you might think of speak easy and honkey tonk rhythms with a sophisticated urban feel, but the title refers to the title track, The Spirit of St. Louis, in which Balladeer Joe Ross recounts the events of the historic flight much as street minstrels have been doing for eons, bringing life, drama and melody into the lives of the working-class. "It was 1927...." The CD as a whole is traditional bluegrass tinged by the blues where lonely fellows bemoan lives ill spent and look for better times "somewhere down the road." The vocal harmonies are reminiscent of the finest bluegrass traditions. The CD as a whole is a tribute to Oregon's natural beauty, although the first track, The Logger's Song, is a contradiction in that it is a tribute to Oregon's vast forests from the perspective of a lumbar man, "the forest is my home," as he goes from camp to camp laying the ground bare. In The Home Fire, twangy strings and mellow fiddle back Ross's heart felt lament of ever-dimming memories of home fires no longer aflame. The track, One Legged Turkey, is right lively. Also known as the Idleyld Reel, if it doesn't stir your bones to tappin,' you might not be alive. The River in Oregon is an ode to ecology and river maintenance. Mother's Song is sung by Mel Besher, and is a sentimental recounting of mother and her sweet songs of Tennessee in an Appalachian meter. In My Heart Remembers Yesterday, banjo and strings change things up in this contradiction of forlorn lyrics and lively tempo. The instrumental, St. Anne's Reel, is simply lovely. As Joe Ross would say, Domo arigato! Streamliner is a trainman's blues strummed hard and sung with passion. And finishing things up, His Hand is Divine, is a cozy, traditional treatment of the divine presence we hope we're praying to, when we're praying. 

I highly recommend this CD to anyone who loves bluegrass.
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It's all about "the song." The song must be absolutely genuine. Joe has written songs for this project that are straight and true right from the soul. These songs are the "real deal!" Whether picturing a beautiful river in Oregon, reliving Lindy's solo flight across the Atlantic or being touched by his mother's beautiful songs, Joe's pen has found the mark straight to the heart!
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Mr. Ross is one of those talented and versatile bluegrass musicians who lays down his own polished guitar and the mandolin tracks behind quite fetching melodies and lyrics...He's an earnest, God-fearing, tradition-hugging Oregonian
and sings in what I think would be considered a tenor voice or possibly light baritone with a hint of the astringent edge that reminds me pleasantly of Burl Ives.. In the great folk song tradition Ross doesn’t mess with irony or controversy here, and doesn’t worry overmuch about sacrificing historical accuracy in his pursuit of a rhyming couplet. This is just
a snapshot of Lucky Lindy, the grinning boy hero, untarnished by the tragedy or eccentricity or fame that would make him a real person later.
We’d never chide a songwriter for imagining that the engineers at Ryan Aircraft “called upon” our grandfather to fly their plane (we know he was turned down by Travel Air and Wright-Bellanca when he asked them to build his special plane,
and that he sought out Ryan as a last resort), or that once he got the plane he “boarded with a prayer” (we know he thought a great deal about religion; he just never felt he needed to use it),
or “answered with a swear” (we never heard him swear although occasionally he did use ordinary words in what might be called an emphatic manner), or that he “would fly the mighty plane as if it were a game” (he took this stuff pretty seriously…in fact some of us thought he also took games of checkers or capture-the-flag a bit too seriously). For after all it’s just a song – it’s fun – and I’m honored that a fine musician thinks my grandfather a worthy subject for it, even this long after his New York-to-Paris Flight. I  realize that if I had known the original John Henry or even the Frog in “A Froggy Went A-Courting” (who may have disliked being called “froggy” as much as my grandfather disliked being called “Lucky Lindy”), I might feel as persnickety about the songs written about them. Kristina Lindbergh
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Writer/musician/singer/songwriter Joe Ross is a man of many talents, and his fifth release taps them all. Ross\' sonorous voice is well-suited to his compositions. With guests like James King Band, Ron Stewart and Cedar Hill, Ross delivers a full-bore bluegrass effort equally dependent on words and instrumentation. Recommended as among \"The Best of 2007.\" (DT, Bluegrass Now, Nov. 2007)
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