Fiddler-turned-bandleader Bronwyn has released her new album, Rattlin' Bones, her first record under the shortened stage name she goes by now, dropped from Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. Saving Country Music reviewed it as a fresh, confident stamp on bluegrass, scoring the album 8.1 out of 10.
The album is also Bronwyn's first since Molly Tuttle's Grammy-winning Golden Highway band dissolved, the group she played fiddle in and won a Grammy with. She had already built a reputation before that, earning the International Bluegrass Music Association's Fiddle Player of the Year award in both 2021 and 2022, and picking up her own Grammy nomination for 2024's I Built a World. Unlike her past records, Bronwyn wrote most of Rattlin' Bones herself, stepping out from the side-player role that had defined her career so far.
The record leans on a deep bench of bluegrass players, including dobro player Jerry Douglas, guitarists Bryan Sutton and Frank Rische, mandolinist Harry Clark, bassists Dennis Crouch and Jeff Picker, banjo player Wes Corbett of the Sam Bush Band, drummer Miles Miller from Sturgill Simpson's band, and former Golden Highway bandmate Dominick Leslie.
Saving Country Music praised opener "Sticks and Stones" and the spirited "Virginia Gal" as straight-ahead bluegrass anchors, with several songs reading as autobiographical, including "Hold Me Down," which the outlet suggested may draw on Bronwyn's marriage to fellow fiddle player Jason Carter, whom she wed at the Grand Ole Opry. "Chasing Storms," co-written with Silas Lowe, drew particular praise for swinging between reserved and spirited within a single song, while "Blink of an Eye," co-written with Jack McKeon, was singled out for compositional prowess the review compared to Bela Fleck or Billy Strings.
The review's one real criticism landed on the album's back half: without much contrast in Bronwyn's vocal range or use of multi-part harmonies, the second stretch of songs, including closer "Golden Hour Dream" and the languid "Rainbow Trout," can start to blend into the background after the sharper opening run.
Rattlin' Bones is out now and joins a wave of new bluegrass and country records tracked on the release calendar this month.
The facts
- First album released under the shortened name Bronwyn, previously Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
- First album since Molly Tuttle's Golden Highway band dissolved
- Two-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year (2021, 2022)
- Reviewed 8.1/10 by Saving Country Music
- Review praised "Chasing Storms" and "Blink of an Eye" but found the back half's dynamics thinner
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