Strength In Numbers

Strength In Numbers is – if they would want to be called such – a supergroup of bluegrass players.  Joining the MCA Master Series was practically a no-brainer, since it essentially the same group that played on Edgar Meyer’s albums and most of what was on Jerry Douglas’ albums.  It might have just been a royalties agreement, or it may have been a way to get the other member’s music published when they didn’t have enough for a full album themselves..  The genre they added to the label was more bluegrass, basically more of Edgar Meyer and Jerry Douglas.  Not that those are bad things in the slightest.

The Telluride Sessions

This album is what is termed “newgrass”, which is more aggressive and experimental version of bluegrass – jazz plus bluegrass, if you will.  The songs are written by the various members, which gives a bit more variety than the usual Myer or Douglas album.  If you like either of the two member’s albums, you will like this, too.

The artwork for the album breaks with the normal second design style in that it shows a collage of the individual members.  because there are a lot of members, the center art extends beyond the normal large white border, which could be considered breaking its borders. Later reissues of this album would feature a totally different cover with no MCA Master Series markings.