Blue Ridge Express
is a wonderful compilation, consisting of the best cuts from bluegrass banjo player
Alan Munde
's three '70s solo albums on the
Ridge Runner
label. Recorded a few years after his stint as a touring member of country-rockers
the Flying Burrito Brothers
, the performances here are uniformly high energy. As a founding member of the pioneering bluegrass super group
Country Gazette
,
Munde
is credited as one of the first players to successfully combine the rhythmic drive of old school "
Scruggs
-style" banjo picking with the newer, fiddle-based melodic style propagated by younger folk-influenced players like
Bill Keith
. The resulting innovative style is displayed to great effect on
.
's playing is often pianistic in its stunning clarity, and his notes have a bright, yet full and round, timbre unmatched by just about any other banjoist. The choice of material here is wide-ranging, and
performs each tune with equal conviction, from the simple, oftcovered traditional-sounding melody of folkie
Steve Gillette
's
"Darcy Farrow"
to the straight-ahead jazz of
's original composition
"Munde's Child."
The recordings here are somewhat of a revelation in that their stylistic diversity -- offering subtle hints of "new grass" to come -- and
's purity of tone make him seem like a direct influence to later smooth players like guitarist
David Grier
. ~ Pemberton Roach