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Junior League Band
Bluegrass
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ABOUT 30 YEARS AFTER Washington's status as the country's bluegrass capital began to slide, a new generation of local bands featuring banjo, mandolin and steel guitar is coming up. 'Grass-rooted outfits such as Junior League, however, aren't as devoutly old-timey as their predecessors. The group is fronted by a banjo-playing soprano, Lissy Rosemont, and its debut album, "Oh Dear," includes a pair of traditional tunes. Yet the disc opens with the unexpectedly funky "Charm," which matches Rosemont's airy vocals to darting fiddle and bluesy bass. That song is not representative, but it does reflect the League's stylistic openness. If much of the band's music blows in on a hickory wind, Rosemont and her seven collaborators can also craft a song titled "Chess Records" (after the great '60s soul label) and mean it as much as they do "Black Mountain Aire." The group's material is generally nothing more radical than folk-rock with an Appalachian accent, yet it's consistently agreeable. It also walks a musical path that can lead to the future as easily as the past. |
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