Sam Bush's King of My World

It arrived at last. The new studio album from Sam Bush will hit stores within days and it arrived safely in my mailbox last week. It has been a few years since the king of mandolin recorded anything new. Sam has been touring constantly with his band over the years and many of the songs from the live shows have never been recorded, yet for those of us who have seen him many times it seems those songs have been with us for a while.

So there was the chance that all this enthusiasm to hear the new CD could prove anticlimactic as so much of it would be very familiar. I am glad to say that isn't the case. This collection of songs and tunes is as strong on CD as it is on stage and even the tracks I have heard so many times live, have a fresh new coat of paint.

Having said all that only a very small percentage of Sam's many fans from all over the world will have had a chance to see any live shows in recent years, so much of this album will be brand spanking new. If by chance you are completely new to Sam, then you too are in for a treat.

There are eleven tracks on the album, each with it's own style played brilliantly by Sam's very accomplished band and some hand picked guest musicians. The regular band are Byron House on bass, Chris Brown on Drums and Brad Davis on guitar but on many tracks the guitar role is taken by Jon Randal Stewart who is another great talent in his own right. Sam, of course takes control of the mandolins, fiddle and even banjo and proves why is he also one of the most sought after session musicians in Nashville.

The CD kicks off the with very bluegrassy “Puppie's N Knapsacks”, which was written by Sam, Jon Randall and Byron and seems to be Sams way of saying “This is where I came from, now watch where I go.”

Just like his live shows the CD then takes us through a myriad of musical styles from great songs like the two Jeff Black tracks, “They're gonna miss me when I'm gone” and King of the World” to an African flavored Johnny Clegg song “Spirit is the Journey”

The tunes too go through lots of musical genres and in the end there is something for everyone including a wonderful rendition of the old Grandpa Jones classic, “Eight more miles to Louisville ”

This is an album for the car, for those journeys down long roads where you need something to liven you up and more than a few songs to sing along to.

King of my World is will be released on Sugar Hill Records on April 13th