Chapmans Record Review

THE CHAPMANS
Simple Man
Pinecastle Records
BY ROBERT STEELMAN

Simple Man is The Chapmans' third disc for the Pinecastle label and, undoubtedly, their best effort to date. Bluegrass has a rich heritage of brother and family acts, probably more than any other genre of music. The brother acts from the past have produced some of the best harmonies in bluegrass. John, Jeremy, and Jason carry on that tradition very effectively, providing a healthy helping of tight harmonies.

This project shines instrumentally as well. Each member of the brand carries a fair share of the musical workload. The boys, along with their Dad, Bill, can pick with t he best of them. A quick reading of the liner notes reveals a stellar line-up of guest artists: Rob Ickes, Stuart Duncan, Aubrey Haynie, Andy Leftwich, Ron Block, Darrin Vincent, and Sonya Isaacs.

The material presented here is tasteful and diverse. Simple Man offers concrete evidence why this band was chosen as the IBMA's Emerging Artists of the Year for 2002. It will also serve to convince any skeptics that The Chapmans have indeed emerged in a big way onto the bluegrass scene. I look forward to hearing more from these guys.

BMP