Daniel Grindstaff’s debut album Heroes & Friends is one of the best all-star albums in recent memory. It’s a measure of Grindstaff’s gifts that he fields such an impressive roster of bluegrass and country music legends for his first solo collection. The East Tennessee native is a well-known force in such circles. He first performed at Nashville’s Grand Old Opry at 18 years old and has since performed and recorded with such luminaries as Jim and Jesse McReynolds, The Osborne Brothers, and Grammy-award-winning Marty Raybon. The years and miles he accumulated with those icons pay off on Heroes & Friends.
URL: https://danielgrindstaff.com/
He’s joined by artists such as Doyle Lawson, Jimmy Fortune, Kevin Richardson, and the legendary Dolly Parton. There are more. It takes considerable chutzpah to begin a collection with an instrumental, but Grindstaff rises to the challenge. “Finnland”, dedicated to his son, features the talents of multi-instrumentalist Andy Leftwich on fiddle. Grindstaff unleashes the track full throttle on unsuspecting listeners. However, the frantic pace never sends the song careening off the rails. The melodic virtues of the performance are considerable enough that you won’t miss the presence of a singer. Guitarist Trey Hensley, bassist Kent Blanton, and mandolin player Jesse Brock join the core tandem and help flesh out the opener’s potential.
Parton and vocalist Paul Brewster appear on Grindstaff’s glittering cover of Rod Stewart’s “Forever Young”. It bears mentioning that Stewart’s version draws heavily from Bob Dylan’s 1974 original, recorded for the album Planet Waves, and Grindstaff credits him appropriately. His take on the song revamps Stewart’s swelling 1980s pop rendition into a soaring bluegrass song. It positions Brewster as the lead singer while Parton and Grindstaff provide excellent backing vocals. The instrumental excellence is unquestionable, and Brewster’s well-traveled voice imbues the performance with moving sensitivity.
A trio of singers appears on “I Still Write Your Name in the Sand”. Rhonda Vincent and Darrin Vincent team with Jimmy Fortune. The Vincent tandem supplies crucial harmony vocals that nicely punctuate the song while Fortune guides the bulk of the tune with a bright-eyed bounce. There’s a delightful spring in the arrangement’s step. Five-star playing is one of the consistent strengths fueling Heroes & Friends, and it reaches one of its zeniths with this cut.
The album’s second instrumental performance covers the venerable “When You’re Smiling”. Andy Leftwich returns, this time on mandolin, and Grindstaff treats listeners to a nearly four-minute instrumental workout. Spotlight moments help push this song even higher. Leftwich demonstrates his command of the mandolin while guitarist Trey Hensley delivers some of his finest contributions on Heroes & Friends. A third instrumental, “Jesse James”, is a time-tested stalwart of the genre and deserves mention for several reasons. However, Stephen Burwell’s scintillating fiddle playing carries the song to the next level.
Heroes & Friends’ last guest vocalist appears with “My Last Old Dollar”. Kevin Richardson’s zesty performance is an exemplary choice to conclude that part of the album’s presentation. It’s another brisk instrumental performance focused on the trio of Grindstaff’s banjo, Jesse Brock’s mandolin, and dueling fiddles courtesy of Stephen Burwell and Derek Deakins. There’s something for everyone on Daniel Grindstaff’s debut Heroes & Friends, and it opens up bold new possibilities for his future.
Garth Thomas