Well how about that! Many thanks to Max Johnson for pointing out the fact that my album, On The Tracks, has its first published review! (Apologies to Odetta Hartman and Chris Rubeo for misspellings of their fine wonderful names.)
Many thanks again to all the folks who made my album possible: Max Johnson on bass, Melody Allegra Berger on fiddle, Chris Eldridge on guitar, recorded by Joey Colmenero at the Cutting Room in NYC; and the Sparrows! Chris Rubeo, Perry Allen, Brian Barth, and Odetta Hartman, recorded by Chris Rubeo.
DAN WHITENER
ON THE TRACKS
No Label, No Number.
This is a really nice project of original material from this young banjo player. Whitener has written all of the songs and he is accompanied on the collection by Chris Eldridge on guitar, Melody Allegra Berger on fiddle, and Max Johnson on bass. Other folks adding their input to the set are Chris [Rubeo] (guitar), Odetta [Hartman] (fiddle), Perry Allen (guitar), and Brian Barth (bass). The instrumentals bounce between sounding ’grassy and jazzy, and Whitener shows he can play on tunes such as “Same Old Thing,” “Three [Musketeers],” “Shooting Star,” “Lightning Bug,” “Done For The Day,” and “Chicken.” A vocal highlight is “Hole In The Floor Of The Plane,” sort of a quirky alternate view of rapture. “Here To Live” is a simple, pretty tune about just living, and “Banjo Pickin Man” is sort of autobiographical. Whitener was a member of the Sparrows band and some of their performances can be found on-line.