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08 April 2004
Larry Cordle & LST, Lonesome Skynyrd Time: A Bluegrass Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd (CMH)
While the title practically reeks of "novelty album", bluegrass musician/songwriter Larry Cordle is dead serious about giving the songs of late, great southern rock Lynyrd Skynyrd a musical reworking. With his super-tight band, Lonesome Standard Time, playing with glee, he pulls it off -- not altogether surprising when you consider that the boisterous Southern-fried rock of Skynyrd is easily transferable into the earthier, folksier -- but equally Southern -- sound of bluegrass. The more obscure Skynyrd covers, like the blues-based "Tuesday's Gone" sound especially vibrant in fact, but there's a catch: you really have to dig Skynyrd's music in the first place to dig these dobro-mandolin-fiddle versions. Otherwise, an achingly sincere, stripped-down bluegrass rendition of the anthemic "Free Bird" -- decently sung by Cordle -- is gonna bug you just much as Ronnie Van Zant's achingly sincere overblown version did. But if you're a fan of Skynyrd's, well then, you are gonna be one happy camper.
— Nicole Pensiero
.: posted by Editor 7:26 AM
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