The Grascals

1	Leavin's Heavy on My Mind 2:48
2	Mourning Dove 2:30
3	Me and John and Paul 3:13
4	Bevans Lake Crossing 2:50
5	Some Things I Want to Sing About 2:34
6	Teardrops in My Eyes 3:02
7	Where I Come From 3:00
8	My Saro Jane 2:33
9	Where Corn Don't Grow 3:46
10	Sally Goodin 3:51
11	Lonely Street 2:31
12	Viva Las Vegas 3:14
13	Sweet By and By 3:18

Barnes & Noble

Touring as the backing band and opening act for Dolly Parton has lent a high profile to the young bluegrass veterans who call themselves the Grascals, and their self-titled debut album ought to elevate their standing a heap more. Rooted in traditional bluegrass, this septet like to spice things up with some gospel (a keening, beautifully harmonized "Sweet By and By" at the album’s close); a smidgen of traditional country (a fiddle-fired, barn-burning take on "Sally Goodin"); a folk-flavored story song (the poignant "Some Things I Want to Sing About," a sepia-toned reminiscence of "mem’ries I can’t live without" relating to fondly remembered friends and family); and a dollop of pop by way of a touching banjo-and-fiddle-based treatment of Andy Williams’s 1959 pop hit, "Lonely Street." Showing no fear at all, the gang tread on sacred territory and come up winners in a hearty, bluegrass-ified reading of Elvis’s monument, "Viva Las Vegas," which features one Miss Dolly roaring in for a guest vocal that will not soon be forgot. Instrumentally and vocally (Terry Eldredge’s lead vocals are both lively and deeply felt), the Grascals have it all together. Their adventurousness can only serve them, and bluegrass, well in the years ahead. Here’s hoping they keep going for it.

All Music Guide

Pitching out some straight-up incredibly accomplished bluegrass, the Grascals come out of the gate surprising many, immediately bringing forward the question, "Is this really a debut album?" Understanding that each member of the Grascals have been sidemen for various country and bluegrass artists explains how they were able to secure such heavy guests as Dolly Parton and Bobby Osborne, and alternately explains the precision in each note played on the album, but it is still impressive to note how comfortable the sextet seems with each other as they churn out such standards as Red Allen's "Teardrops on My Mind" and "Viva Las Vegas" (the latter with Parton as guest). What ultimately comes across on this self-titled debut is that the members each have found their place, likely both exciting and depressing their former employers, for a project whose name may very well seep into the consciousness of bluegrass aficionados next to the greats' names long since established in that genre's vernacular. Gregory McIntosh