Old Roads, New Journeys (Copper Creek, 2004)

The Wolfe Brothers are a professed old time band, but their music has a lot of bluegrass sound to it, getting away from the repetitious playing often associated with old time music. They rely heavily on the fiddle as a lead instrument with the open back banjo providing a strong rhythmic background, with a couple of guest shots by guitarist Mac Traynham.

The CD begins cruising along on some old tunes with strong old-time leanings, but you're brought to a dead stop when Donna Correll begins her a cappella version of "When I Can Read My Titles Clear." This is as fine an example of this type of singing as you'll hear anywhere. She takes another excellent turn on "On The Other Side of the Mountain." The music of the Wolfe Brothers keeps its obvious old-time roots, but comes very close to the mountain sounds of Ralph Stanley. These are songs you might hear any of the most popular bluegrass groups feature somewhere in their act. Even as a collection on a single CD, they are easy to listen to and should appeal to most fans of bluegrass as well as those who love the old time sound.