Reminiscent of the playing of Tony Ellis, Terry Kruger has gone back to the mountain roots of bluegrass - he gives the banjo room to breath, focusing on simple melodies over complex improvisation.    Not being a big fan of modern jazzy noodling, to me this is a big breath of fresh mountain air!  Stand out tracks are the lonesome-sounding Mountain Bird and the groovy Hickups.  Thanks Terry.
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Like a renewed conversation with an old friend, Terry's Mountain Bluebird takes you home, wherever home might be. This is an album you'll return to time and again not only because the music is exquisite as is the playing but the sentiment that informs the music is a lived sentiment - the touch like the tunes is true. Take a listen for yourself. You'll be glad you did. 

Emily Cargan, Writer, Calgary (where Terry will be launching his CD at Calgary's Irish Cultural Society on Saturday night, Jan 14, 2012)
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I fell in love with Mountain Bluebird the first time I listened to it. It is quite different than any other banjo album that I have heard, there is a lightness of touch and, if I might say so,  a gentleness or sensitivity that makes this album completely engaging.
I loved Terry's  versions of Lost All My Money and My Home’s Across the Blueridge Mountains.

Thanks for a great album, I will be listening to it for quite some time!

Ian Spooner, Nova Scotia
Mud Creek Boys
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Terry Kruger has produced a rare instrumental album in today's bluegrass/old-time and acoustic music world.  While there are many fine contemporary banjo records out there and more than few frailing and clawhammer recordings, few players have sought to rediscover and recreate the mountain sounds that influenced Earl Scruggs.  That is what Kruger has achieved on this recording with the help of kindred spirits Dirk Powell and Kevin Wimmer.  If you want to hear what bluegrass banjo sounded like before it moved to the big city, buy this record.

-Steve Fisher
Host and Independent Producer of 'Fire on the Mountain' on the CKUA Radio Network in Alberta, Canada
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