Homegrown

As legacies go, they don’t get much weightier than that of folk icon Woody Guthrie. Homegrown, the latest album by Cole Quest (Guthrie’s grandson) & The City Pickers, features three songs by Woody, a Woody/Arlo Guthrie co-write, songs by Peter Rowan and John Hartford, and new songs by Quest. The New York-based City Pickers ply their bluegrass with an incandescent twang that does justice to the luminous composers in their songbook. With Quest slinging dobro and providing harmony backing, Christian Apuzzo picks a sharp guitar and sings lead vocal on an evocative cover of Guthrie’s classic ‘There’s a Feeling in Music’. Supported by Brazilian harmonica maestro Matheus Verardino, Mike Mulhollan (banjo) and Craig Akin (bass), Quest’s original ‘I Ain’t’ is a full-blown foot-stomping fandango. ‘Só Pra Variar’ gives Verardino a chance to blow minds and sing in Portuguese. Homegrown is a sparkling fun time, especially for bluegrass fans.