Heartbreak Town

1	Heartbreak Town 3:28
2	The Road from Coeburn to Warren 5:11
3	Somebody's Gonna Pay 2:30
4	Lilly Hoskins 4:13
5	Dawggone 4:30
6	Our Love Never Dies 3:39
7	Evangelina 3:16
8	Glen Rock 3:20
9	Sometimes Sleep Closes These Eyes 4:00
10	When the Hurt's Talkin' 2:22
11	Cold Lonesome Feeling 4:05
12	Noppet Hill Breakdown 2:59
13	Last Call 3:04

Barnes & Noble

Ronnie McCoury is steeped in the traditions of bluegrass, both as the scion of a bluegrass/gospel musical family and as a mandolin player. The soulful blue side of the 'grass scene is apparent in his playing and singing on this collection, including the aptly named title track, "Heartbreak Town," which blends high lonesome with a twang of country blues. Twin fiddles map the territory on "The Road from Coeburn to Warren," a tune that also finds McCoury taking a fresh twist on bluegrass tradition. "Glen Rock" takes a Bill Monroe riff on an extended and graceful journey, and "Dawggone" offers a nod to mandolin giant David Grisman, who guests on the cut along with Jerry Douglas. Rob and Del McCoury, Bela Fleck, and Stuart Duncan are also among those who sit in on Ronnie McCoury's stellar debut. --Kerry Dexter

All Music Guide

An impressive debut by any standard, mandolinist Ronnie McCoury, on his first effort away from the Del McCoury Band, shows himself more than capable of stepping out of the shadow of his father. Though Del McCoury and brother Rob McCoury, as well as Mike Bub and Jason Carter, provide the musical backing on the majority of the tracks, this is a Ronnie McCoury-led project, as he shows an expert eye in song selection, as well as writing nine of the thirteen tracks. Displaying a rather strong Bill Monroe bend to his songwriting, on tracks like "Our Love Never Dies" and "Sometimes Sleep Closes These Eyes," many within the bluegrass genre are already seeing McCoury as one of the future pillars of the traditional form. Hot instrumentals, such as "Dawggone," on which Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas and David Grisman give musical support, and "Noppet Hill Breakdown," again backed by his Del McCoury Band partners, give ample evidence as to why McCoury has received seven International Bluegrass Music Association's Mandolin Player Of The Year awards. An impressively varied and accomplished set, Heartbreak Town never disappoints. Matt Fink