Still alive and kickin' bluegrass

Old and in the Gray continues bringing traditional bluegrass about as close to the mainstream as it ever gets. This time out, banjo player and singer Herb Pedersen and upright bassist Bryn Bright are brought in to fill in some of the gaps left with Jerry Garcia's passing. So even though the name has changed ever so slightly (they're typically credited as "Old and in the Way"), this is for the most part the same band.\nThe musicians' more traditional, stripped-down sound and focus on writing and vocal harmonies give the album an authentic feel. Beyond that, what makes them stand out are the familiar names of virtuoso musicians like David Grisman (mandolin) and Peter Rowan (guitar), whose playing and singing is as natural as you'll find in bluegrass these days. They know how to be accessible without surrendering any of the music's integrity.\nThe fun, bluegrass-style opening track, "Good Old Boys," is followed by Townes Van Zandt's affecting, country/folk-flavored "Pancho & Lefty," showing the band's range in just the first two songs. The rest of the disc swings somewhere in between those styles on several covers like Bill Monroe's "On the Old Kentucky Shore," the Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" and highlights like "Two Little Boys."\nBut the originals are just as good, if not better, because there's a stronger bluegrass flavor, with rolling banjo and lightning-fast breakdowns for guitar and mandolin, as well as the instrumental "Vassar's Fiddle Rag," that allows Clements to really show his fiddle chops. The only drawback is that, maybe because of Garcia's absence, there's less of a folk/country style, which doesn't afford the listener variety.\nOld and in the Gray is a nice field trip to this country's past and probably a good place to start for someone curious to hear bluegrass music played by someone other than Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe or Del McCoury. The disc can get a bit tiresome by the 14th track, but it is a good overview of the music's tradition recorded with a slightly modernized, but in no way compromised, sound.