I stumbled onto Laurel River Line quite by accident. It was one of those “Look what I found on the Internet moments” when bluegrasstoday.com announced the formation of a new managing agency, and that agency’s site had a link to LRL as a client. A few clicks further and I discovered a local band from Kentucky that is aiming high.
Laurel River Line formed in 2007 as a local bluegrass gospel group situated in the cradle of so many great bluegrass artists: eastern Kentucky. (Seriously, I do believe that eastern KY has more professional and/or talented musicians per capita than anywhere else.) But a few years and personnel changes later, they released their debut album 
Ridin’ The Line, a mix of secular and gospel bluegrass. LRL is still largely a local band, with most of their appearances happening in the eastern Kentucky region, but what is surprising is that their sound and musicianship match any of the major groups performing today. Local bluegrass groups are a dime a dozen, but finding one that can go beyond singing “Pretty Polly” with rhythm guitar and chop chords is a stretch. Finding a full on professional sound with quality songwriting (seven tunes on this debut are originals), in tune vocals, and progressive mandolin and banjo playing is almost impossible, especially on the first recording effort. LRL even has Ron Stewart of the Boxcars sawing on the fiddle for a few tracks, and their well designed website has some nice words from him about their sound right on the front page.
Musically, the group is sticking close to its gospel roots with several inspirational songs sprinkled throughout the album. The best of these are old favorites “Gonna Be Movin’” and “Pass Me Not.” On the secular side, there are some fun tunes and some quality originals, including the turn of phrase based “Lay In The Bed That You Made” and “Lonesome Knocking At Your Door” which has a great bounce in the rhythm and nice lead guitar and vocals. Other tracks are typical genre tunes, like “Blue Lonesome Feeling” and “If I Should Wander Back Tonight,” but they have a bright progressive edge.
If their first effort is any indication, Laurel River Line should break out of its local band status and reach a much wider audience before long. They are clearly shooting for big things, as their well-honed sound shows.