Just Over in Heaven
For 20 years now, Doyle Lawson's bands have extended bluegrass-gospel quartet singing to include significant doses of Southern gospel, even subtle touches of barbershop, and with tenor singers Barry Scott and Jamie Dailey now joining in, Quicksilver's blend on 2000'sJust over in Heavenis as jaw-droppingly beautiful as ever. No cut stands out here the way "River of Tears" did on 1999'sWinding Through Life, and one wishes Lawson would add just a bit more variety to the arrangements. The songs, mostly written or cowritten by Lawson himself, could also be stronger. But the gig here is harmony singing, and there can be no complaints on that score. Two numbers are especially thrilling: the a cappella "Listen to the Bells" which is achingly sweet, something like theMills Brothersgone bluegrass, and "The Man Upstairs," which sounds like the Statesmen Quartet in a particularly subdued mood. What these guys express in shifting, shimmering harmony says more than words could anyway.--David Cantwell