Obviously when a band goes through personnel changes, the product is going to be different. Jamie Johnson’s voice will always loom over this band until its completion, and the last few albums have been trying to reconcile the loss of possibly their most pivotal piece in their early years. John Bryan has a prototypical high lead voice, and for most bands he would have slid in seamlessly, but the Grascals are more than a band, they are a product. The chemistry and energy brought on stage by Jamie Johnson and Terry Eldridge was palpable even in their studio recordings. Skits including Dierks Bentley or versions of “Viva Las Vegas” featuring Dolly Parton didn’t feel forced, but seemed a natural representation of a bunch of good ol’ country boys enjoying their moment in the spot light.
There were attempts to bring this type of energy on their recent releases, but these attempts fell flat without the swagger of Johnson. ‘Before Breakfast ‘ sees the Grascals present themselves less as a novelty, but more of a fine-tuned unit that has been playing together in different arrangements for roughly 12 years. Danny Roberts has gotten out of his relentless pentatonic mode, Kristen Scott Benson sounds as strong as ever, and Eldridge and Bryan are starting to gain a dynamic that is creating a different, but equally strong product from one of the most prominent bluegrass acts of the 21st century.
Part of the strength of this album is the Grascals’ eagerness to add influences from bluegrass’s rising stars. The Becky Buller penned ‘Sleepin’ With the Reaper’ flows with a unique minor-major texture and ominous lyrics like, “One way or the other who’s it going to be/ will you be sleeping with the reaper or me tonight”. One of my major issues with their last project ‘And Then There’s This…’ was the borderline obnoxious use of pentatonic by mandolinist Danny Roberts. Due to the minor mood of the song, the pentatonic works here, but he doesn’t over-do it. Robert’s mandolin is composed and more reminiscent of his past work than his off-putting playing on the last project.
Along with acquainting some rising stars in the bluegrass scene, they resort to some oldies, but goodies. Eldridge digs into one of the Varner family’s favorite Flatt and Scruggs tunes “He Took Your Place” and hits it out of the park. While I have judged the mandolin mixing in the past, the strong presence of the mandolin chop keeps this song calm and sentimental rather than becoming something less structured and true to the song. Speaking of brilliance in composure, Kristen Scott-Benson destroys this break. What is seemingly so simple actually becomes a culmination of brilliant Scruggs riffs placed in such an order to execute the melody, while adding a subtle amount of humor to it. Benson continues to impress, and in some ways carry the Grascals instrumentally. Their version of “Pathway of Teardrops” doesn’t break the mold of past covers, but it serves to show off the three-part chops of bassist Terry Smith, Bryan and Eldridge, which aren’t as flashy some of the songs Johnson was involved on, but the substance is there.
Since this is a Grascals project, there does have to be some type of comedic novelty piece, and here that song is the Harley Allen and Robert Ellis Orrall tune “Beer Tree”, which asks the timeless question: why doesn’t beer grow on trees? While songs like this would have become comedic adventures in their older projects, and attempted allusions to their glorified past on their more recent ones, here it’s just another song on the album, that they felt brought out another side of the band that hadn’t yet been presented on this project. “Delia” is a great old-timey dance number, “Lynchburg Chicken Run” is a hot instrumental that again shows the great right hand of Kristen Scott Benson, and “Lonesome” may be one of their better written songs on any of their projects. ‘Before Breakfast’ covers all the bases and then some for one of the bands who has been known for these types of audience pleasing releases since their origin.
