Smooth bluegrass

I first heard Rhonda Vincent live last year (2000) in a back room at the Station Inn in Nashville; I was more than pleasantly surprised. She and her band were hard-driving and simply hair-raising. Later on, a few days later, I saw them at the Ryman, opening for Ralph Stanley. A bit smoother this time, they were nonetheless fabulous. Rhonda Vincent's new album proves she's decided to stick with bluegrass. There are some fine tunes on this recording, and as always, her vocals and her band are strong. But on her recordings, one can hear the quixotic yearning for country-radio airplay (and if the #1 O Brother soundtrack can't get it, what can?), and both the slick production and the several banjo-free country-style tunes diminish the sound that so engaged me back at the Station Inn. A stickler for perfection, Vincent switches musicians from song to song; in so doing, she loses the energy one gets with a consistent touring band. The blessing of bluegrass is that raw edge--the 'rage' evoked in her band's name--but there isn't much rage here. And I know she has it. Nonetheless, this is an enjoyable album.