Ready To Go

Certainly we expect to be rocked on our heels by dazzling licks from a twentysomething bluegrass guitar prodigy who's played with everyone from Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas to the Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, and Rhonda Vincent. But what's startling about Bryan Sutton's self-produced and aptly-named first record (which features Skaggs, Parton, Douglas, and other distinguished guests) is how soulful, eclectic, and fully realized it is. Sure, there are hot leads aplenty on instrumental originals like "Decision at Glady Fork" and "Highland Rim," on traditional romps such as "Tater Patch," and on Sutton's reading of Bill Monroe's "Brown County Breakdown." But there are also superb renditions of jazz staples like the Stephane Grappelli/Django Reinhardt chestnut "Minor Swing" and the Gershwins' "Lady Be Good," plus a fervent version of U2's "When Love Comes to Town" featuring Jeff White on vocals. Sutton masterfully shifts into the role of tasteful sideman as Parton takes a haunting vocal turn on her own "Smoky Mountain Memories" and as gospel singers Becky and Sonya Isaacs deliver a lovely interpretation of the traditional "The Water Is Wide." --Bob Allen