Mountain Tradition

Clay Jones is a native North Carolinian born with a guitar in his capable hands. He first came to national attention with the band "Carolina" in the mid-nineties. Clay's first solo guitar record, entitled "Bluegrass '95" won the IBMA instrumental recorded performance of the year in 1996. Tracks #3 "BF05", #5 "Ride the Wild Turkey" and #7 "Mississippi Sawyer" have the fiddle, guitar, and banjo dominating with the sounds of a stompin' your feet good time. It reminded me of a western, or a soundtrack for a cartoon character running at a fast pace. Selection #8 "Under the Dougle Eagle" has a slightly different approach. It's at a more moderate pace and not as aggressive sounding as the first selections that I mentioned. It has a subtle sound- the slow song of the CD. Track #12 "Cold Sheets of Rain" has the same affect. It is slow to moderate paced with banjo, guitar plucking, and singing, with Clay leading his backup singers. In the end, #13 "Big Mon", has the same fast-pace intensity and fire on the guitar for Clay. A great sounding album for those into this type of music.Clay's intensity and fire on the acoustic guitar is unmatched in this genre of music.