David Morrell

Welcome to Higher Ground. This remarkable New Mexico band shows how far, both geographically and musically, bluegrass music
has come from its origins in the southeastern United States during the 1940s. Inspired by old-style string bands like the Carter
Family, Bill Monroe (whose group the Blue Grass Boys popularized the name for this distinctly American musical art form)
strengthened rhythms, added elements of jazz and blues, and emphasized the banjo, mandolin, and fiddle more than any other
type of country music does. Innovators followed, all the way from Earl Scruggs (originator of the three-finger banjo-picking style
distinctive to bluegrass) to Alison Krauss + Union Station (who expanded the bluegrass sound until their records were listed on
bestseller charts normally reserved for mainstream pop).

Higher Ground is another innovator. Its six members (the usual is four or five) manage the intriguing balance of retaining the
traditions of bluegrass while creating a progressive, contemporary sound. They achieve this in a variety of interesting ways: by
avoiding the typical one/four/five blues chord pattern in favor of intricate, varied progressions; by mixing major and minor
keys; and by changing time signatures, 4/4 becoming 5/4 or 3/4 within the same song, for example.
Although many bluegrass bands play only traditional songs, Higher Ground emphasizes its distinctiveness by preferring original
compositions that its members have written, thus achieving what one fan called "a now kind of music with bluegrass
instrumentation, creating something new while building on the past." They accomplished this now-combined-with-then sound in
such memorable songs as "On the Corner Square," from their first album Black and White-Faded and Torn (2001). They accomplish
it even more in this, their second album, People, Places, Memories, the theme of which perfectly matches their musical
intentions: how to move ahead in one's life while adjusting to where one has been.
Consider these lyrics from the stand-out opening song, "My Heart Is Here To Stay."

Across the mountains lies the setting sun.
Another night without you's just begun.
Questions to ask with answers I'll never know.
Like the clouds they come and go.

The words evoke contemporary country music. One expects a mournful beat and an anguished tone. Instead, the arrangement
goes in the opposite direction, using bluegrass's infectious, pulsing rhythm to promise that there's a better life beyond the pain.
A lyrical fiddle (Jeff Forbes), mandolin (Dave Devlin), and guitar (Fred Bolton) create a feeling of optimism. Diane Lujan's vocal is
almost joyous. This surprising twist is typical of the fresh effects Higher Ground creates, using traditional bluegrass methods.
Or consider the instrumental "Alamance" (named after a North Carolina county familiar to its composer, banjoist Duke
Weddington). From the get-go, its enthusiasm and acoustic-string instrumentation identify it unmistakably as bluegrass, and yet
its strong melody and free-swinging rhythm feel so brand-new, it's as if bluegrass is only now being invented. Simultaneously, it
feels like the tune could be translated into any number of other musical categories, perhaps to become as much an instrumental
icon as Mason Williams' "Classical Gas."

With so little space, there's so much to be praised-Diane's smile-producing voice, Mark Smith's solid bass. Mark also writes, as do
Fred, Dave, Duke, and Diane. Fred, Jeff, Duke, and Mark contribute solo vocals also or harmonize with Diane. Sometimes, Dave
plays the dobro while Duke and Fred switch to guitar. The quality of the musicianship and the song writing is amazing. In short,
Higher Ground is a true ensemble, an organic coming together of diverse musical talents whose combined creativity is greater
than each has individually. Their lives parallel their music as they move ahead while remembering where they came from and (to
paraphrase a line from a song that gives this fine album its title) the people, places, and memories they hold dear.

-David Morrell

(David Morrell's best-selling thrillers include The Brotherhood of the Rose, The Fifth Profession, The Protector, and First Blood,
the novel in which Rambo was created. A former musician, he also contributes essays to The Absolute Sound, most recently on
Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle.)

© Copyright 2003 by David Morrell