Song List: Sadie Danced a Hole in Her Stocking, Tomorrow’s Coming Fast,, Holler, Don’t Forget About Maggie, Nightbird, The Gavel, Coal Mine, Memphis Anymore, Our Last Goodbye/Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine, Come to Me.
While this band is named after Steve’s custom banjo company, it has all the ingredients for a stellar band. Besides Steve’s fine banjo playing, the group also features the fiddle and lead vocals of Sarah Logan. Other band members are Milan Williams on mandolin, Glen Crain on resonator guitar, Jaime Carter on bass, and Adam Platt’s percussion. The album also features several guest guitarists and the harmony vocals of Melanie Wilson.
The vocal blend of Melanie, Sarah, and Steve is showcased on the closing gospel song, “Come to Me.” It’s a shame that this vocal trio is not featured on other songs but Sarah can coax a variety of emotions and feelings that draw the listener into belief in a character. “The Gavel” is one of the popular singles from the album, and the story of a marriage with the “champagne glass with apron strings attached” and abuse is a twist on the murder ballad songs with the wife pleased to be in residence where she doesn’t have to cook or clean. On the other side of the relationship spectrum is “Coal Mine” with a wife joyously awaiting her husband’s emergence from the coal mine, all sung to the backdrop of a fiddle and banjo pairing. “Holler” is another nod to the roots of bluegrass in the Appalachian hollers with the moody resonator guitar adding to the fiddle and banjo combination. A winner!