Dark Ride

The CD album “This Is A Dark Ride” is available at Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Apple Music.  The content is topically current, meaningfully complex, and probably not something you’ll hear on AM radio for the morning commute.

Joining me on this project are four great players:

The influence of Lee Corbie-Wells’s fiddle and vocal harmonies is unmistakable and forceful in the visceral message of these songs. Lee has been a constant in the development of this work.

Gary Mortensen’s dobro is always just perfect for the piece it compliments. His idea of “showing off” is apparently humility in the light of interpretive perfection. No one is currently fortunate enough to have Gary as a full time member, as he travels a bunch. If you happen to be at Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS, the National Old Time Fiddlers Contest and Festival in Weiser, ID, or the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association Festival near Cold Spring, MN, and happen to hear sweet dobro sounds coming from a well-appointed camp site, chances are that it’s Gary making the noise.

Many fans of Bluegrass, whether it be contemporary or traditional, are acquainted with Sharon Gilchrist. Her mandolin and vocal work with Peter Rowan, Tony Rice, and The Dixie Chicks is well known. On this current project, her mandolin’s interplay with Lee’s fiddle on “Time” and “Low Hanging Fruit” brings more than just a a hint of neo-classical to those tunes.

Oscar Wesstesson is the bassist on eight of the eleven songs in this bundle. He’s a very popular “Hired Gun” in the SF Bay area, and his feel for… and execution of… the material is spot on. He’s a scientist, working a day job doing research.