Jeff Parker - Two Roads to Travel
Review by Joe Ross, Roseburg, Oregon - email rossjoe@hotmail.com

Lonesome River Band's mandolin player and vocalist Jeff Parker gives us a stellar bluegrass gospel album that includes material from Rick Bartley, David Carroll, Tim Stafford, Rick Bartley, Vern Gosdin, Louvin Brothers, Bill Castle, Shannon Hess and others. The CD jacket contains all lyrics. Varied tempos, keys and rhythms give us a spiritually-tinged project that covers many musical moods with Jeff's smooth lead vocals always in the forefront. Fourteen cuts are backed by an all-star cast of the bluegrass elite. The session musicians include Harold Nixon, Wayne Fields, Steve Gulley, Don Gulley, Tim Stafford, Randy Kohrs, Ron Stewart, Russell Moore and others.

Jeff Parker was born in 1961and began playing guitar at age six. His father (Vester Parker) was a musician at the Renfro Valley Barn Dance. At age 12, Jeff saw his first live performance of the Russell Brothers and was amazed with the mandolin. Harold Russell lent Jeff a mandolin, and he started playing that instrument with his family band, Sounds of Gospel. Jeff's first professional gig was as a fill-in mandolin player for Larry Sparks on a Renfro Valley show. At age 19, Jeff and other friends formed a band called Train 45 that played for a couple of years. At age 25, Jeff was hired as a full time staff musician at Renfro Valley. He worked there until 1994. From 1995-2001, Jeff, his brother Mike, Terry Wolfe, and David Osborne, played in the band Wilderness Trail. In 2001, Jeff auditioned with the Lonesome River Band, and he has been their mandolin player and singer ever since. “Two Roads to Travel” is Jeff's long awaited solo album that is sure to win the hearts of bluegrass gospel fans everywhere.

Jeff Parker's touching, harmony-rich gospel numbers are performed and sung with deep conviction and reverence. Without proselytizing, Parker's straight-ahead Christian messages clearly bring joy to his and our hearts. “Two Roads to Travel” is an unqualified triumph among the large body of bluegrass gospel releases. What sets this gospel set apart from even his finest bluegrass peers is Parker's ability to find, arrange, sing and play material with artistic depth and spiritual respect that is a cut above. (Joe Ross)