The Howling Blue Winds

David Peterson & 1946's second album, following their 2001 self-titled debut, is another collection of traditional bluegrass traditionally performed. Peterson named the band to commemorate the year that Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys, and their mission is to re-create the sound of that ensemble as closely as possible. While there are new compositions on the disc, notably the leadoff track, "New Pair of Glasses," written by country songwriting legend Tom T. Hall, and the title song, the bulk of the selections are bluegrass standards popularized by Peterson's illustrious predecessors Monroe ("That Home Above"), Flatt ("Have You Come to Say Goodbye?"), Roy Acuff ("Freight Train Blues"), Bill Harrell ("Reno Bound"), Jimmy Martin ("I'll Never Take No for an Answer"), Reno & Smiley ("Wall Around Your Heart"), and the Stanley Brothers ("The Drunkard's Hell," "You'd Better Get Right"). (The Fred Rose composition "Foggy River," meanwhile, is a country standard recorded by everyone from Acuff to Conway Twitty, though most successfully by Carl Smith.) The band, basically consisting of Peterson on lead vocals and guitar, Mickey Boles on tenor vocals and mandolin, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Duane Bowling on banjo, and Kent Blanton on upright bass (with additional performers including Sam Bush on mandolin on "New Pair of Glasses" and Andy Todd on baritone vocals) faithfully renders these bluegrass favorites, but not without putting its own individual stamp on them. Peterson's tenor is well suited to the material, and he can add various yelps and yodels without apparent effort, notably on "Freight Train Blues." The album, like its predecessor, is a good calling card for the band's well-received live performances.