Nashville Guitars

Nashville Guitars Various Artists (Nuance 54404)

On "Nashville Guitars," produced by noted session guitarist Louie Shelton (The Jackson Five, The Monkees), he contributes the up-tempo track "High Roller," accompanied by ten more tracks from some of the finest pickers in Nashville.

Let me begin by saying that there isn't a lackluster cut among these eleven tracks. Mark Casstevens contributes an acoustic picking masterpiece in "Cowtown," this from a guitarist who can be heard on albums by folks like Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, and Amy Grant. Reggie Young (Elvis' "Suspicious Minds") shines at full luster on "Exit 209," an easy-listening number, and Ray Flacke smokes the fret board on "Templar Treasure."

The variety of tunes is obvious, but so is the immense amount of talent present here. All in all, Louie Shelton has produced a top notch compilation of some of the best guitarists to gather on one album in quite some time.

-Michael B. Smith...

What can I say, I absolutely love this album. Every track is a guitar masterclass, other than maybe Boomer Castlemans effort which sounds like it was recorded very ad-hoc and thrown together without much thought, but is still kind of clever nonetheless. Other than that though these guys are truly the finest players in the world today, with the very obvious exceptions of Brent Mason, Ray Flacke and Albert Lee.

Superb, just superb.

If you like guitarists such as Brent Mason, you'll love this CD. These guys are fantastic. They all sound alike but they're great so who cares.