Skylighters

The self-titled release by this stellar band made up of members of the acclaimed East Nashville group Last Train Home (Eric Brace, Jim Gray, Martin Lynds), plus bluegrass legends Mike Auldridge and Jimmy Gaudreau. (You'll know Mike for his work as founding member of the Seldom Scene and Chesapeake, as well as his work with Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett and many more. Jimmy was in the Country Gentlemen, Spectrum, the Tony Rice Unit, the Emmylou Harris Band, and many more.) They got together for fun up in Washington DC in 2002, and something clicked. They don't play out that often, but when they do it's magical. The Skylighters went into the studio in early 2006 to try to capture that magic, and they did just that. What came out of those sessions is this splendid assortment of songs. There's bluegrass, country, honky-tonk, western swing, country-rock, Tin Pan Alley, gospel, and (believe it or not) more. It's no use trying to pigeonhole these fellows. They crash through the roadblocks of musical genres with the accelerator floored. Take it from Nick Cristiano of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who calls the record 'a seamless and stirring mesh of talent....While this nearly all-acoustic set does feature some bluegrassy moments, the album defies easy categorization...All of it is held together by the sublimely soulful feeling that is a hallmark of Last Train Home.'