Search - Larry Keel :: Sound

One of my favorite albums by one of my favorite flatpickers

Nobody important | 07/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Larry Keel may be my favorite flatpicker. There are faster players, and there are cleaner players. However, nobody flatpicks more forcefully or distinctively. There is hard-driving bluegrass, and then there is The Larry Keel Experience, and they made anyone else laying claim to that style sound like they were playing placid waltzes. Even groups like Blue Highway and the Infamous Stringdusters sound laid-back compared to Keel on this album. This is HARD bluegrass, and Keel does not achieve that by playing a blend of bluegrass and rock like New Grass Revival and their followers. This is just HARD bluegrass from the most aggressive flatpicker around. Larry Keel recorded two other albums with "The Larry Keel Experience," Miles & Miles, and a self-titled album. Miles & Miles is a bit more stylistically diverse, but more mellow, and the self-titled album is quite similar to this one, but The Sound just has an aggressive energy that is difficult to find anywhere else. That makes this my favorite of the Larry Keel Experience albums, although the other two are worth tracking down as well.



Of Keel's other projects, I would strongly recommend tracking down a copy of the Magraw Gap album. Magraw Gap was a Keel band that preceded the Experience, and it was a perfect blend of progressive and traditional bluegrass sounds. Also, look for Big Daddy Bluegrass Band, which put Larry Keel in a band with Curtis Burch (New Grass Revival) and Steve McMurry (Acoustic Syndicate). Then, track down some Acoustic Syndicate albums."