Today's Country

 

By: Jeff Kurtis 

 

 

Drew Emmit of Leftover Salmon fame and Bill Nershi of String Cheese Incident fame coming together armed with their individual crafts of mandolin and acoustic guitar along with their dynamic vocals is definitely a combination that is worth checking out and the best place to start is with their brand new album New Country Blues. The combination of their many unique talents brings forth an exciting blend of newgrass, country, and Americana that is everything the emergence of the bluegrass scene is about but they also take it to a much more unique level allowing The Emmit-Nershi Band to stand on their own a bit more than most. Songs like the jumpy title track “New Country Blues” and “Road of Destruction” lean heavy on the traditional bluegrass instrumentation as the outstanding use of the banjo pulls you through the upbeat songs. However, with tracks like “These Days” we see Emmit and Nershi adding their own twists and turns to the typical bluegrass sounds of today. “Surfing The Red Sea” and “Mango Tango” see the boys presenting instrumental tracks, typical within’ the bluegrass genre, allowing them to put their great vocals aside to allow their arguably even greater instrumentation on display. Throughout their studio debut, The Emmit-Nershi Band takes you on a bluegrass journey that has some of the typical aspects of the genre, but it is the more unique blended twists and turns along the way that make this album truly stand out amongst the pack.