What a fun CD this is. If you like down home bluegrass, you will like Gone South's CD "First Stop." This recording got me laughing right away with a song about the boys kicking my dog around in "Hound Dog Song." There are a great mix of tunes on this CD. The songs move you from mood to mood. There are great performances of "Rock Salt and Nails" and "Kennesaw Line" as well as a VERY traditional arrangment of "Shady Grove."

The song "Oh My Little Darlin" is a really neat mountain sounding song. It is so raw and in your face. This song is like a mountain church hymn with clawhammer banjo crossed with a moonshine song, lots of fun. There is a great version of "Fire on the Mountain," not the traditional fiddle tune, but the Marshall Tucker Band one. There is also a version of the Old and In the Way song "Midnight Moonlight" which I like since I love Old and In The Way and am kind of a closet DeadHead.

These are only a few of the great cuts from First Stop althought I could say something good about all of them. It sounds like Gone South has worked hard and had alot of fun producing "First Stop." The recording is not overproduced and super-polished which tends to make recordings sound generic and boring. This recording captures alot of the personality of the musicians. This music makes you smile to listen to it. There is a nice mix of instrumentals and vocals.

The only real complaint I have about this CD is the choice of music. I knew almost all of the tunes. I really like to hear music I have never heard before, preferably original material. But this is not to take away from the performance of those songs.

If you want to hear some fun and well executed interpretations of tunes that you may have heard, I would say go for it. If you are interested in mostly original material or highly polished productions with blazing instrumental work, you will probably want to look elsewhere.

This is great music and well worth a listen, I give it 3 1/2 picks. For information regarding purchase of this CD, goto http://www.geocities.com/gonesouth_2000/ or send e-mail to garywilums@aol.com