The Pickin' On series of releases has a simple formula: Get together some hot
bluegrass
pickers and let them loose on an album's worth of songs by a huge
rock
band or artist. The series has proved quite popular and
CMH
keeps crankin' 'em out. This disc collects 12 highlights from past releases, including versions of
the Rolling Stones
'
"Paint It Black,"
U2
's
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,"
Jimi Hendrix
"Purple Haze,"
and
Pink Floyd
"Wish You Were Here."
Part of the fun of the series is hearing familiar AOR staples being deconstructed and rebuilt
style. It must have been a daunting task to arrange
Bruce Springsteen
"Born to Run"
or
the Beatles
"Paperback Writer."
Bluegrass
purists no doubt find this concept to be a sellout of the worst kind, but more easygoing fans of the style and fans of weird concepts in general will find much to enjoy in both the Pickin' On series and in this sampler. ~ Tim Sendra