Bluegrass guitarists Dix Bruce and
Jim Nunally's fourth album,
Brothers at Heart, is a tribute to the country brother duet acts dating back to the 1920s, including the Monroe Brothers,
the Louvin Brothers, and more recent teams such as
Jim & Jesse and
the Everly Brothers. Bruce and
Nunally are true archivists whose primary occupations include session work and instructional tapes, and they know their way around this traditional material, which they perform lovingly. Even the originals, such as a timely musical setting for Wilma van Peski's antiwar poem "Poppies" by
Nunally and Bruce's instrumental "Mike's Marathon," sound like they could have come from the distant past. The two guitars interact well, and the fingerpicking is sure and precise, but Bruce and
Nunally also work closely as vocalists, re-creating the untutored country harmonies of the performers they are emulating. This is a chance to hear traditional country music authentically played on a recording that didn't have to be restored sonically from 75-year-old master recordings. ~ William Ruhlmann