The album is crafted with great bluegrass musicians putting together the instrumentation. Artists include Marty Stuart, Carl Jackson, Rob Ickes, and Aubrey Haynie. Vocal artists include bluegrass and acoustic favorite, Alison Krauss. It's all here from the dobro to the mandolin and guitar and banjo.

The only thing lacking on this latest bluegrass album is bluegrass music. There. I said it. There isn't any bluegrass music here. There is, however, a ton and a half of great Merle Haggard music set to acoustic instruments. There's just something missing to the songs and that's bluegrass. I'll probably get some heat over this and it certainly isn't the first time but, a bluegrass album should contain the driving music that the genre is known for.

We've seen this with Janie Fricke and Lynn Anderson's attempts at "Bluegrass Sessions" and they are both reviewed here on Cybergrass. Bill Anderson and others have also released so called bluegrass works. We have been seeing more and more artists adding the word "bluegrass" when describing their music even if there isn't a blade of grass on their albums. I'm afraid that I must put this outstanding album into the country bin with the others and not the bluegrass bin.

Just as some of the Nashville Tribute albums in the "Pickin' On" family contain some outstanding picking and some wonderful arrangements, "Pickin' On Stevie Ray Vaughn" and "Pickin' On The Who" are not bluegrass music. These are blues and rock played by bluegrass musicians on bluegrass instruments.

Playing bluegrass instruments does not a bluegrass song make. It takes bluegrass music to make a bluegrass song. This seems to be the one element that country stars venturing into the roots and bluegrass seem to consistently overlook. Bluegrass music is acoustic stringed instruments that includes a banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass. In addition, a resonator guitar is a welcomed instrument when it fits the song. No more. No less. And, yes, a bluegrass song needs to have a banjo played three-finger style.

So what we have is a pure 10 star album performed by a 10 star artists with 10 start musicians and guest vocalists. Would I buy it? You bet I would and I would jump at the opportunity. But, would I park this in my bluegrass collection? No. It would hold a place of high-honor in my country collection, however.

I encourage Merle to do more with bluegrass. He certainly understands the theme and he's been around the music longer than most people. The lack of pure bluegrass on this album surprised me. I certainly hope that it comes to be. I so wanted The Bluegrass Sessions to be a bluegrass album.

Seed Newsvine