Product Reviews

Glen Bonham releases an extremely well sung, played and paced tour of acoustic-based bluegrass, folk and traditional country. Consisting of mostly covers, and enlisting such veterans as Pay Flynn, Glen Duncan, Rob Ikes, and Kenny Malone, Bonham has put together a simple yet wonderful display of Americana on this, his first solo release. Born in the "mid 1950s" to a British father and a Choctaw mother, Bonham played in a variety of family bluegrass bands in Oklahoma. While in the Marines, he was introduced to mainstream country, and fell in love with the music of Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell, and George Jones. He has played guitar in bands with Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill. A qualified martial arts instructor whose instructor was Chuck Norris, "White Cloud" (his Native American name) later took up dancing at Native American pow-wows. It was during one such performance that led to an audition and eventual recurring role on, of all people's T.V. shows, Norris' "Walker: Texas Ranger." Bonham's role was most frequently in the title characters dream sequences. Highlights include Bonham's one composition "Mr. Homeless," an interview with a homeless wanderer where Bonham's baritone rivals Alan Jackson's. It's a stark and staggering tale based on a true meeting. Elsewhere, GLEN BONHAM features Larry Cordle's lovely "Fields Of Home," the country weeper "I Haven't Seen Mary In Years," the cry-in-your-beer "Lonesome Feeling," and a brilliant acoustic version of Haggard's "Silver Wings." On the Bluegrass side, Bonham takes on the fiddle-driven "Love O Love," the standard "Fox On The Run," a ripping version of "Free Born Man," "Georgia Rose," A.P. Carter's "I Wonder how The Old Folks Are At Home," and Bill Monroe's "Walk Softly (On This Heart Of Mine," which has been slowed down to a beautiful ballad. Bonham's versions "Today I Started Loving You Again" and Lefty's "Fraulien" are full of soul and heartbreak. Though not breaking any new ground, GLEN BONHAM certainly is a record deserving a listen. It's nice to see someone who genuinely loves the music and can sing it well get a chance at gaining a new audience, and may this lead to more recordings. It certainly puts a lot of the O BROTHER... come latelys into place.

9X Glen Bonham

Glen Bonham releases an extremely well sung, played and paced tour of acoustic-based bluegrass, folk and traditional country. Consisting of mostly covers, and enlisting such veterans as Pay Flynn, Glen Duncan, Rob Ikes, and Kenny Malone, Bonham has put together a simple yet wonderful display of Americana on this, his first solo release. Born in the "mid 1950s" to a British father and a Choctaw mother, Bonham played in a variety of family bluegrass bands in Oklahoma. While in the Marines, he was introduced to mainstream country, and fell in love with the music of Merle Haggard, Lefty Frizzell, and George Jones. He has played guitar in bands with Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill. A qualified martial arts instructor whose instructor was Chuck Norris, "White Cloud" (his Native American name) later took up dancing at Native American pow-wows. It was during one such performance that led to an audition and eventual recurring role on, of all people's T.V. shows, Norris' "Walker: Texas Ranger." Bonham's role was most frequently in the title characters dream sequences. Highlights include Bonham's one composition "Mr. Homeless," an interview with a homeless wanderer where Bonham's baritone rivals Alan Jackson's. It's a stark and staggering tale based on a true meeting. Elsewhere, GLEN BONHAM features Larry Cordle's lovely "Fields Of Home," the country weeper "I Haven't Seen Mary In Years," the cry-in-your-beer "Lonesome Feeling," and a brilliant acoustic version of Haggard's "Silver Wings." On the Bluegrass side, Bonham takes on the fiddle-driven "Love O Love," the standard "Fox On The Run," a ripping version of "Free Born Man," "Georgia Rose," A.P. Carter's "I Wonder how The Old Folks Are At Home," and Bill Monroe's "Walk Softly (On This Heart Of Mine," which has been slowed down to a beautiful ballad. Bonham's versions "Today I Started Loving You Again" and Lefty's "Fraulien" are full of soul and heartbreak. Though not breaking any new ground, GLEN BONHAM certainly is a record deserving a listen. It's nice to see someone who genuinely loves the music and can sing it well get a chance at gaining a new audience, and may this lead to more recordings. It certainly puts a lot of the O BROTHER... come latelys into place.

9X Glen Bonham Glen Bonham Review by: Kent Harrison

Glen Bonham

Glen Bonham "Glen Bonham" You might wonder, as I did, why we need another recording of bluegrass and country chestnuts like "You Don't Know My Mind," the Carter family's "I Wonder How the Old Folks Are at Home," or "Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again." But you'll stop wondering when you hear Glen Bonham's incredible high lonesome voice in front of a crackerjack band of Nashville session players like Pat Flynn from the New Grass Revival on guitar and Glen Duncan--recently featured on the Earl Scruggs and Friends CD--on fiddle. Bonham not only has pipes, he also has an interesting story. Check it out at Grassroots Media.
Minor 7th- David Kleiner


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