"Flatt Lonesome" - Flatt Lonesome - A Review

http://youtu.be/rRaAtQLqb_M

     These young folk have formed one of the best sounding traditional bluegrass groups around. If you watch the youtube above, you will get an idea of their talent level plus the love they have for their craft. The vocals  are built around 3 sibling and they harmonize so well together. Plus they play their instruments so well. Siblings Kelsi Robertson Harrigill, Charli Robertson and brother Buddy Robertson handle vocals plus Kelsi plays all mandolin, Charli plays fiddle and Buddy plays guitar and is leader of group. He is an excellent guitarist, playing both lead and rhythm. They play a lot of recognizable cover songs on their debut CD.
      Helping the sibling out on the other instruments is Mike Stockton who plays a very good Dobro, and they have Paul Harrigill on banjo who is quite an accomplished player and on upright bass,they have Dominic Illingworth who does a good job of keeping the beat going well. My favorite song on the CD is the popular country/bluegrass "Jackson", which sounds like a live version. Buddy and sister Charli do a great job on vocals. Their vocals are quite remarkable. Gospel song "On The Right Side" is done very well by Kelsi on lead vocals. The last song "Boondocks" is done very well in a trio style by Kelsi, Charli and Buddy. These youngsters are very entertaining, they have lots of youtubes on youtube, and they really sound great live. Some of their vocal arrangements are like the best in bluegrass. I would love to catch them at a festival this year. They have some original songs on the CD too. Kelsi wrote "One Foot in The Grave" and "Just Any Moment". I love their version of "Does My Ring Burn Your Finger" and "Draggin My Heart Around", a couple of songs that are pretty popular. They are fortunate to be a member of Mountain Home Records, which also has the "Grascals" and "Balsam Range". Mountain Home Records is blessed to have one of the best recording engineers around in their studio in the Mountains of North Carolina. And I have yet to hear , Van Atkins do a bad recording. He not only records their CDs , but also does the mastering, which is unusual. Most groups or labels all send their finished record out to a good mastering engineer like Doug Sax or Georgetown Masters in Nashville, Tennessee. Van just switched over from 2 inch analog tape to Pro Tools in the last couple of years. He is simply one of the best in Bluegrass. The artwork on the CD is great too, There is a living room chair on the Cover, with a blackboard which says simply "Flatt Lonesome" on it. This is a group with a huge upside to it. Check them out.
                                                               www.FlattLonesome.com
www.crossroadsmusic.com