Jim Lauderdale

Yep Roc Records; September 2007

Jim Lauderdale’s been putting out strong, countrified albums for the last two decades, won a couple Grammy awards, and yet he’s never lumped in with his contemporary roots music heavyweights. And I don’t think Bluegrass Diarieshis second in a trilogy of bluegrass discsis going to change that at all. While Lauderdale is a great player who writes strong songs, his voice simply doesn’t cut it. And when you’re trying to stand out among the Dave Alvins and Greg Browns of the music world, you’ve got to have the voice to do it. With a couple of guest vocalists thrown into the mix, Diaries could have been much more, but as it stands, the album is buried by Lauderdale’s pedestrian delivery; a shame, because the music is spot-on.