Pier Pressure
Singer Moondi Klein, bassist T. Michael Coleman, and dobroist Mike Auldridge continue to differentiate their new band, Chesapeake, from their old group, the Seldom Scene. On the new Chesapeake album,Pier Pressure, the three musicians and their bandmate Jimmy Gaudreau continue to sidle away from hardcore bluegrass and towards a bluegrass-country-pop hybrid sound that reminds one of Ricky Skaggs's early-'80s hits. Nanci Griffith's drummer Pat McInerney is credited in the liner notes as the unofficial "fifth member of Chesapeake," and he adds a percussive thump to all dozen songs on "Pier Pressure."Such a stylistic shift wouldn't matter much one way or another if the quality of the songwriting, singing, and picking didn't match the quartet's past work with the Seldom Scene, Doc Watson, Tony Rice, and the Country Gentlemen. It's no surprise that the instrumental work is topnotch, most obviously on the instrumental medley where Gaudreau's mandolin showcase, his own "At the Drive-In," segues into Auldridge's pedal-steel guitar showcase, Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk." Nor is it any surprise that Klein's high, sweet tenor sounds good, whether harmonizing with his bandmates on Van Morrison's "Full Force Gale" or with Linda Ronstadt on Steve Gillette's "Bed of Roses." The big surprise is Coleman's blossoming as a songwriter. The bassist wrote four songs, and they all sparkle with wit, details, and hooks, whether confessing homesickness on "Once a Day," hopeless love on "Guilty," or a lingering rock & roll jones on "Rockin' Hillbilly."--Geoffrey Himes