“Sophisticated” and “bluegrass”. Â Not often you see those two words paired. Â On Places You’ve Not Been, the latest album from Austin-based MilkDrive, however, the two adjectives clearly belong together. Â The disc certainly holds its own blasting as background rolling down the highway on a sunny California day. Â But it really rewards you when you take the time to listen closely.
In some way, like Rush or Yes did with rock and roll in the 70’s, MilkDrive excels at overlaying styles and methods from classical and jazz music onto a genre you thought you knew. Â John Paul, a sad observation about a returning soldier, stretches across multiple stylistic changes, as does Hall Of Stone. Â As They Go rolls along in a gently pop-ish sort of way when about halfway through a mandolin comes screaming into the picture. Â The Water also has its way with tempo changes.
Founding members Dennis Ludiker, Noah Jeffries, and Brian Beken met as kids on the fiddle competition circuit. Â That led to late nights playing together and finally forming a band where their history of jamming together shows up on several instrumental cuts on the record. Â Orion’s Waltz, Delephine, and Camp Schnool all fall into that bucket. Â Album closer Ode To Alice is, I suppose, also an instrumental although there’s a sort of heavenly choir that transform the song into something special.
 Lest you think Places You’ve Not Been is some snooty, avant garde musical exploration, it’s fundamentally still a bluegrass album.  MilkDrive plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and bass.  They just do it in ways you’ve probably not heard.  So take a close listen and see how sophisticated bluegrass can be.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.