Search - Marty Raybon :: Full Circle

Shenandoah Lead Vocalist Returns to Bluegrass with Style

Mark J. Fowler | Okinawa, Japan | 06/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The road between Marty's hometown on the outskirts of Jacksonville Florida and Nashville is populated by many who flit back and forth between "mainstream country" which will get airplay, sell records and fill arenas, and the music they love and grew up on: acoustic Bluegrass.Marty was well-known to the North Florida Bluegrass circles before heading for Nashville to record many hits with the fine Country Group Shenandoah. Shenandoah has gone the way of the LP album and Marty returns to his roots here to record an album of Bluegrass that has great tunes, hot pickers, and harmony vocals that will raise the hair on the back of your neck - all woven in with the soulful baritone of Marty Raybon. "Ghost in this House" was recorded by Shenandoah, then redone by Alison Krauss, but here Marty redoes it in an "unplugged" version that demonstrates that Marty Raybon OWNS this song.Up-tempo tunes are mixed in with ballads and newer material is mixed in with old Jimmy Martin and Flatt and Scruggs. In the studio musicians frequently concentrate so much on the *perfectness* of their playing that they forget how important it is to the performance to have fun, enjoy it, and "let it hang out" a little. I don't mean to imply that the musicians and Mr. Raybon himself don't perform perfectly on this recording - they do - I just want to make it clear that they also obviously had a doggone good time doing it, and that shows up on every track."

An inspired album that will knock your bluegrass socks off

J. Ross | Roseburg, OR USA | 03/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since his long and successful stint with the band Shenandoah, singer Marty Raybon has released a duo album (with his brother), some gospel albums, a solo country album, and now a peppy bluegrass album. Raybon is a talented music veteran who was solidly grounded in bluegrass music early in his life as a member of his family band, the American Bluegrass Express. He then moved to Nashville and went country in 1984. He has shown that he can choose good material, assemble first-rate musicians, write excellent songs, and sing them with genuine and warm sincerity. "Full Circle" offers newly-arranged traditional favorites from Flatt and Scruggs (Down the Road), Bill Monroe (Rocky Road Blues, White House Blues), and Jimmy Martin (Home Run Man, Prayer Bells of Heaven, The Last Song). In addition, the album includes remakes of two Shenandoah hits (Ghost in this House, and Next To You, Next To Me) and one cut from his solo country album of 2000 (Ghost in this House). Three new songs were written or co-written by Raybon (That's One, All in the Hands of Jesus, Webster's Definition) including one (Everything) featuring guest vocalist Sonya Isaacs.The album also features some stellar bluegrass musicians with David Talbot (banjo), Bryan Sutton (guitar and mandolin), Donnie Allen (rhythm guitar), Shad Cobb (fiddle), Rob Ickes (resonator guitar), and Terry Smith (bass). Harmony vocalist Paul Brewster also assists. The result is an inspired bluegrass album that will knock your socks off. "Full Circle" offers some grandacious 'grass. In addition, the album has the added bonus of various bright and breezy, slower acoustic country offerings interspersed between the high-geared bluegrass. Watch for Marty Raybon on the road. You'll be in for a highly entertaining and professional show once he assembles a bluegrass band to tour and promote this album project. It's great to see him back among the bluegrass fold. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)"