Junior Sisk and Rambler's Choice

If Mountain hadn't claimed the moniker decades back, these guys could've done it justice. But Junior Sisk and Rambler's Choice are no monolith of amplified energy--they're a high quality, traditional-leaning bluegrass band shot through with the sound of the mountains. (In fact, that’s exactly the title of their 1998 debut: Sounds of the Mountains.) The title of Blue Side of the Blue Ridge--the follow-up released in June--got more geographically specific. The band took ten years and several lineup changes between albums, leaving only Sisk and bassist/vocalist Tim Massey from the original group. And while there's no "Mississippi Queen" to be found, Sisk's remarkable voice still has a penetrating, lonesome quality that's echoed in the band's mournful songs of hardship (poverty and death in childbirth), self-sufficiency (through making 'shine and other methods) and the unspoiled Blue Ridge mountain scenery.
Fri., Aug. 15, 9 p.m., 2008