Album Reviews

Chris Jones & the Night Drivers

Run Away Tonight

Artist:     Chris Jones & the Night Drivers

Album:     Run Away Tonight

Label:     Mountain Home Music Company

Release Date:     08/21/2015

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Chris and his bandmates—Ned Luberecki, Mark Stoffel and Jon Weisberger—celebrate their 20th anniversary with this release, and it’s easy to see why the band continues to build their fan base while celebrating this milestone. If the songs seem perfect for the band, it’s because most of them had the input of at least one person in the group. The musicianship of the group is without question among the best, whether recorded or live.

Jones and Weisberger wrote one of my favorites on the CD, “One Night in Paducah,” about the chance meeting of two people on a riverboat that doesn’t turn out so well for the man in the story. If you want to believe the same guy is the lead character in “Dust Off The Pain,” then he makes out okay as he contemplates the new love he’ll find “just around the bend.” Another favorite, “Pinto The Wonder Horse Is Dead,” is one of the few songs not written by someone in the group.

Del McCoury guests on “Thinking About You,” and Buddy Melton lends tenor to “One Night in Paducah.” Darin and Brooke Aldridge add harmonies on “She’s Just About To Say Goodbye” and the final track, “My Portion And My Cup,” a gospel tune co-written by Jones and Donna Ulisse. It’s a fitting end to an album of wonderful bluegrass music.

– Vernell Hackett

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