Mark Schatz had been the multi-instrumental backbone of so many contemporary bluegrass bands that it's surprising that he never made a solo album until 1992. By the time he did, he had the cream of America's acoustic players lining up to be there with him, and this album has star turns by the likes of
David Grier,
Béla Fleck,
Jerry Douglas, and
Mike Compton.
Schatz isn't upstaged at all, though. His gifts as a musician and composer are formidable, whether playing a jazzy upright bass duet with
Roy Huskey, Jr., Eastern European-style mandolin and banjo with
Fleck, or clog dancing vigorously while
Tim O'Brien cuts loose on the fiddle. He even takes a brief vocal turn, showing himself to be a quite tolerable singer on a duet with
Alison Krauss.
Mark Schatz showed himself to be an inspired writer, performer, and arranger on
Brand New Old Tyme Way -- not that anyone who had followed the man's career had any doubts in that regard. ~ Richard Foss