The Blue Sky Boys
Forty years after their first recordings, Bill and Earl Bolick were persuaded out of retirement for the second time, this time by Ken Irwin and Rounder Records. Recorded in 1976, these 14 magical tracks (often played but never before recorded by the brothers) form a worthy coda to their all-too-limited body of recorded work and are in fact as valuable as the duo's original sides. With two (mildly) upbeat exceptions, the songs included here are gloomy and tragic; they speak of suffering, desperation, disappointment, death, and redemption. Bill (unearthly high tenor) and Earl (bedrock baritone) were interlacing harmonies as children in church, so imagine how effortless it sounds 50 years later. Supported by only Bill's supremely gentle mandolin runs and Earl's acoustic guitar foundation, the Bolicks sing not with overwrought emotion and intense passion, but with a sense of resignation and understanding that is all the more painful.--Marc Greilsamer