NewFound Road
NewFound Road
Franklin, OH
Country / bluegrass / bluegrass
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Bio
When it comes from NewFound Road, it comes from the soul. You'd be hard pressed to find a bluegrass band that plays and sings with more feeling and heart than this extraordinary ensemble. Same Old Place, NewFound Road's second album for Rounder, is chock full of driving rhythms, haunting ballads and classic bluegrass, all brought into sharp focus by the effortlessly affecting, soulful vocals of Tim Shelton and the instrumental prowess of Junior Williams (banjo), Joe Booher (mandolin) and Randy Barnes (bass) with guests Justin Moses, Brandon Godman and Jim VanCleve. NewFound Road have blossomed into a band who can shake you to your emotional core. Listen to Same Old Place, and believe. - adapted from the notes by Robert K. Oermann
About
NewFound Road
Same Old Place
Street Date: April 28, 2009
When it comes from NewFound Road, it comes from the soul.
There are more famous bluegrass bands, but you’d be hard pressed to find one that plays and sings with more feeling and heart than this extraordinary ensemble. NewFound Road’s second collection for Rounder Records, Same Old Place, following their well-received 2006 CD Life in a Song, tells you all you need to know about this group’s depth of emotion. It’s chock full of driving rhythms, haunting ballads and classic bluegrass, all brought into sharp focus by the band’s instrumental prowess and the soulful vocals of Tim Shelton.
The muscular, assertive banjo of Junior Williams drives such pulse-quickening performances as “Love Stay Away from Me.” Slippery, silvery mandolin notes from Joe Booher are woven throughout the album’s finest tracks. The bass of Randy Barnes is the heartbeat of the rollicking “My Shoes Sure Know How to Get Around” as well as the other tunes.
Guests Justin Moses, Brandon Godman and Jim VanCleve provide the perfect sonic compliments to NewFound Road’s instrumental prowess. And everyone gets a turn to shine in the lightning-flashing instrumental “Piledriver.”
Perhaps most obviously, there is not a more soulful bluegrass lead singer than NewFound Road’s Tim Shelton. He is effortlessly affecting on the heartbreaking ballad “Same Old Place.” Like all great country singers, he communicates straight from his emotional core on tunes like the haunting, minor-key gem “River of Pain.” Tim lets fly with bent notes, curlicue phrasing and melody-toying vocal acrobatics in “On the Back Row,” a honky-tonk song stripped to its acoustic roots.
His vocal improvisations bring the classic “Lonesome River” back to life. And Tim is nowhere more breathtaking than in the gentle, gorgeous “Full Circle.”
That “soul” in NewFound Road might have its roots in the band’s gospel origins. Indeed, it was with a great deal of introspection and consideration that the group decided to make the transition from strictly religious lyrics to mainstream bluegrass five years ago. As one listen to the a cappella quartet singing in “Give Me Jesus” or the inspirational tone of “Try to Be” reveals, NewFound Road still swells with power on spiritual numbers. “I Am the Man (Thomas)” was actually previously recorded by the group on its 2005 gospel CD. The new version on Same Old Place is truly the collection’s “Hallelujah” moment.
Critics have lauded NewFound Road’s refreshing clarity, sense of honesty, purity of vision, fire and intensity. Yes, NewFound Road has all of that.
But listen closely. There is something much more in this gifted group’s sound. There aren’t many bands who can shake you to your emotional core the way this one can. There are even fewer who can do it as consistently as NewFound Road does on Same Old Place. Call it spirit. Call it feeling. Or call it what it is…soul.
More than anything else, it is that elusive and special quality that has put NewFound Road on a fast track to bluegrass stardom.
Listen to NewFound Road…and believe.
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by ReverbNation
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