Posted on: April 5, 2019 Posted by: Kim Muncie Comments: 0

There aren’t many bluegrass groups that have both the instrumental and lyrical prowess that Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers do, and they exploit their talents for all that they’re worth in the brand new album For the Record. From “That Old Wheel” to “Georgia Slammer,” Mullins and the equally skilled cast of Randy Barnes, Duane Sparks, Mike Terry and Jason Barie throttle us with impossibly dexterous string compositions, larger than life arrangements that have more in common with a classical symphony than anything in Nashville, and deliver unto us a clean cut depiction of America’s last strain of uncorrupted roots music as it was always meant to be heard.

URL: https://www.radioramblers.com/index.html

Mullins and his band don’t waste any space on For the Record with filler, and by that I mean every song here could serve as a strong single. “Tell Me True” and “A Folded Flag” package the group’s sincerity infused with tenacious tonality, “O-hio” and “Things That I Like” display their connection with bluegrass’ storied history, and “Georgia Slammer” and “I Want to Know More About My Lord” bring in a righteous introspection that I would love to hear more of in future releases. The Radio Ramblers have never sounded as in their element as they do here, and that’s certainly no small statement to make by any critical measurement.

A progressive fluidity between the tracks makes For the Record really easy to play through without ever feeling the need to shake things up with the shuffle button. “Here and Now” primes us for the mountainous grooves of “Things That I Like” perfectly, and though the style gap between “Dreamers Hill” and “Bacon in My Beans” might appear too wide to be bridged on paper, it provokes no interruption in the flow of the record at all. It’s overwhelmingly difficult to put this album down once it’s been picked up, and that’s even after several focused listens of all the songs.

Words like “muscular” come to mind when trying to describe the banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin and upright bass that are utilized as weapons against the mundane in this LP. “Things That I Like” is the most unadulterated show of strength in For the Record, but it isn’t the only heavy flex that Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers included for us here. Although it’s executed with a much more conservative style of attack, “I Want to Know More About My Lord” is a similarly boisterous tune that will make anyone who doubted this band in the past immediately reassess their hasty and shortsighted judgement.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Record-Joe-Mullins-Radio-Ramblers/dp/B07N3XJ7CF

For the Record is an addictive slab of southern-style Americana, and it’s got critics from one side of the country to the next abuzz at the moment – and for good reason. You’re not going to find tracks even remotely as brooding as “A Folded Flag” and “The Guitar Song” occupying the same space on a full-length album this season outside of this watershed release from Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, and I say that knowing full-well just how much good music is scheduled to arrive in 2019. From where I sit, this LP is undeniably among the cream of the crop.

Kim Muncie

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