Album Notes

Steve Lewis "Appalachian Rain" (Mountain Music Machine 043) Summation of Joe Ross review; "Steve Lewis is Banjo and/or Guitar champion of the Walnut Valley Nationals, Merlefest, Renofest, the Galax (Virginia) Old Time Fiddlers' Convention and the Wayne C. Henderson Guitar Competition. He thought about recording original tunes on this (his first) project. But upon reflecting on the 25-year odyssey, that brought all of the accolades he has experienced, the music that helped him develop his extraordinary skill seamed more appropriate. Steve assembled some impressive talent for this project. Alan Johnson, Randy Greer, Scott Freeman, Randy Pasley and Josh Scott (his son). Fifteen of the sixteen cuts on this project are instrumentals. (Freeman does a nice solo vocal job on Shady Grove) They span a broad range of materiel from Ricky Skaggs to Stephen Foster. "Appalachian Rain" gives us a gripping performance by an exceptionally talented instrumentalist and his accomplished sidemen. We'll be hearing more from Steve Lewis. Perhaps his next project will introduce us to some of his originals." (Joe Ross) Comments from Dave Higgs, WPLN-FM Nashville, TN; "Steve Lewis plays some mouth-wateringly fine arrangements of some great numbers--putting his own unmistakable spin on each track. The tone he coaxes out of his instruments is big, fat and warm--and his variations always interesting and full of surprises. I especially enjoyed his takes on "Scotland" "Angeline the Baker," "Nashville Blues" and "Leather Britches." (Dave Higgs) Comment from J.D. Crowe; "Very very few people can play both banjo and guitar at the Steve Lewis level." (J.D.Crowe) From the Liner Notes: I started thinking about material for a recording about ten years ago. I first thought about an album of original tunes. I probably have three albums' worth of these. But it occurred to me that a recording of my tunes would be way down on the back of the CD bins behind the host of good stuff from all of the pickers out there today. I decided to try and draw some attention to the stuff I learned from. My greatest education came from hours of listening to albums by Earl Scruggs, Vic Jordan, J.D. Crowe, Tony Trischka, Larry McNeely, Tony Rice Doc Watson and Dan Crary to name some. These folks are not only what I would call first-generation hot pickers (with the exception of Earl), but they were there on the trail of first-generation, and fortunately, most are still going strong today to inspire, educate and sometimes intimidate the heck out of us. It would be sad for someone to start learning an instrument and not be exposed to the super picking of these incredible musicians. I do think you are handicapping yourself by not listening to the vast recordings of some of the very best music ever played by my heros. As such are the tunes I have chosen to record. These are tunes a lot of folks my age will remember even if they have not heard them recently. When I'm playing shows, this is the stuff that folks ask for. Some of these tunes get played quite frequently, but, there again, that's what audiences ask for. Steve Lewis