Pickin' On Buddy Jewell - A Bluegrass Tribute

Anonymous instrumental albums have been in existence almost as long as the album format itself, and CMH Records' Pickin' On series carries on the tradition in the field of modern country music. Like 101 Strings, Spectrum, and the other studio-bound ensembles that remade the hits for easy listening in the '60s, the Pickin' On albums often list none of their personnel on the outside packaging, relying instead on the names of their target artists to sell records. Pickin' on Buddy Jewell is devoted to instrumental bluegrass renditions of songs associated with Buddy Jewell, the mainstream country singer who rose to fame via the Nashville Star television program. Eight of the ten melodies are taken from Jewell's self-titled major-label debut, while John D. Loudermilk's "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" (a big hit in the '60s for Eddy Arnold) is the song Jewell sang on the compilation Nashville Star: The Finalists. The tenth cut, "Ole' Buddy," is an original tune by Dennis Caplinger, a studio musician who receives the album's only performance credit. If Caplinger actually played all the instruments himself, then the album is an impressive feat. Pickin' on Buddy Jewell covers a few country music styles ranging from bluegrass to straight country ("Today I Started Loving You Again"). Various instruments are featured on the solos, including mandolin, fiddle, and guitar (electric and acoustic). Pickin' on Buddy Jewell is one of the better albums in the Pickin' On series in that none of the pieces are glaringly inconsistent with the bluegrass theme and all are well played and recorded.