Always Take Me Back
What do you get when you cross country music with prog rock? Something  not unlike this recording by formerNew Grass Revivalsinger  John Cowan. Cowan's formidable voice has always been bigger than bluegrass, and  onAlways Take Me Backhe leaves no doubt that his roots are as firmly  planted in rock dramatics as in the string music of his Kentucky upraising. If  you are among the select few who have always yearned to hearYes's "Long Distance  Runaround" done without irony and with a drum program, banjo, and fiddle backing  (it works better than you would think), or the recitation fromKing Crimson's "In  Discipline" pasted over a banjo instrumental, you've come to the right place.  Cowan's own tunes are well-crafted tales of his family relationships and  upbringing, sung with a power that occasionally dwarfs his semi-acoustic  backing. Bluegrass, like prog rock, has always been the province of virtuoso  instrumentalists, so perhaps the combo should not be so surprising. It is not  meant as a value judgment to say that ifJourneyhad a banjo they  might sound like this.--Michael Ross