Peter Rowan You Were There For Me CD

One has to consider the collaborative union of renegade roots music guitarist Tony Rice and woolly Zen bluegrass legend Peter Rowan to be the most natural thing on earth and one that is long overdue. Both are true. While the two have played together on stages and even on record before, You Were There for Me marks their first full-fledged album collaboration. The program features no less than nine Rowan originals and a cover of Peter Lorin's fine "Cowboys and Indians." Rice is in fine playing form here, effortlessly underscoring and filling up Rowan's sung lines, and for his part, the songwriter is in fantastic voice. Accompanied throughout by bassist Bryn Bright and mandola and mandolin maestro Billy Bright -- with guest appearances by drummer Larry Atamanuik and bassist Tony Garnier as well as Rob Emery on harmony vocals on a track each -- the sound here is easy, free, and warm. But this is no mere feel-good jam recording. Instead, it is a collection of Rowan's most poetic material rendered with deep emotion, elegance, and grace by the singer buoyed by a band led by Rice's uncanny, soulful, and otherworldly playing. While there isn't a weak track in the set, the clear standouts are the title cut, "Tin Roof Shack," "Miss Liberty," "Shirt Off My Back," "Wild Mustang," and "Angel Island." One of the most poetic, emotionally honest, and gorgeously rendered albums of American music to come out in decades. This recording is among the best in either man's catalog. ~ Thom Jurek

Liner Note Author: Robert K. Oermann.

Recording information: Bias Studios, Falls Church, VA; Big Sound Studios, Westbrook, ME; Sleeping Wolf Studio, Maggie Valley, NC.

Photographers: Gary Robertshaw; Darwin K. Davidson; Robert Emery; Andrew MacNaughton; Michael K. Sheehan; Nunu.

Arranger: Peter Rowan.

Personnel: Peter Rowan (vocals, guitar, mandola); Peter Rowan; Bryn Bright (double bass, background vocals); Robert Emery (background vocals); Tony Rice (guitar); Billy Bright (mandola, mandolin); Tony Garnier (double bass); Larry Atamanuik (drums).

Audio Mixer: Billy Wolf.

Dirty Linen (p.48) - "[T]he rolling, sprightly, uplifting 'Wild Mustang' evokes the spirit and joy of a majestic stallion running proud free on the high plains. This excellent album will appeal to a broad range of acoustic roots music fans."