Clinch Mountain Mystery

With a solid core of fine pickers, a handful of guests, and a dozen high-stepping songs, the Larry Stephenson Band shows exactly what it's made of on Clinch Mountain Mystery. This is hard-driving traditional bluegrass, highlighted by Stephenson's high-longsome lead and lots of hot instrumental work. Although the title song is a rather grisly unsolved murder mystery, most of these songs center on the ravages of love gone wrong. At their most lighthearted, they include the nonsensical "Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me," obviously written before anyone worried about combining images of love and violence in one song. "Someone's Gotta Cry" reminds one of the sort of bluesy song the Osborne Brothers might've sung, while the downhearted "A Heart Never Knows" should be avoided by anyone who's just been cast aside. The real oddity on the album is "Clinch Mountain Mystery," written by Dixie and Tom T. Hall. The song starts typically enough, with the new kid in town running off with a local girl. When she turns up missing, a search party turns over the entire mountainside where, "They found his torn britches and Janice's dress/And it looked like something had chewed on the rest." After noting that body parts had been scattered everywhere, the narrator reveals — rather unsatisfactorily — that the mystery was never solved. Despite the sad and occasionally gruesome songs, Clinch Mountain Mystery — musically speaking — is an upbeat affair, sure to satisfy anyone addicted to good old-fashioned bluegrass. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., Rovi