[.ca] Untold Stories

From Amazon.com:
The harmonies of this successful '80s bluegrass outfit--named after the secret ingredient in Martha White's self-rising flour--were simply stunning. Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Tim O'Brien sang with utterly pure high tenor, while Nick Forster and Pete Wernick gave the group a powerful three part vocal punch. O'Brien and Forster's literate compositions are set beside standards by the Carter Family and the Delmore Brothers, and the band's reading of Hazel Dickens's "Won't You Come & Sing for Me" is exquisite. Session workhorse Jerry Douglas sits in on Dobro. --Roy Francis Kasten

Gone But Not Forgotten . . .:
. . . "Untold Stories" represented the high water mark for one of the most popular bluegrass acts of the 1980's. Led by triple-threat front man Tim O'Brien, Hot Rize appealed to both traditional and progressive audiences, combining wonderful material and vocal harmony with the hot picking of O'Brien, banjo whiz Pete Wernick, and the late Charles Sawtelle, whose deep tone and unique guitar phrasing brought smiles to most everyone who ever heard him. My personal favorites on this effort are the title song (which was a hit for country star Kathy Matea), "Just Like You", and "Here Today and Gone Tommorrow", a jaunty reading of an old Delmore Brothers tune - but this is a strong outing by a terrific band at the height of its powers.

• Are You Tired of Me, My Darling?
• Untold Stories
• Just Like You
• Country Blues
• Bluegrass, Pt. 3
• Won't You Come and Sing for Me
• Life's Too Short
• You Don't Have to Move the Mountain
• Shadows in My Room
• Don't Make Me Believe
• Wild Ride
• Late in the Day