Wires & Wood (2000)

About this title: Mandolin player Johnny Staats leads off the first track of his first album trading licks with Sam Bush, the newgrass progenitor and probably the most respected mandolin player in Nashville. That's quite a statement to begin a recording career with, and Staats, who has been hailed by bluegrass fans and has won numerous amateur competitions, lives up to the professional competition on "Mandolin Meltdown" and the rest of the tracks on Wires & Wood, which is something of a superstar pickers' session even though the artist gets most of the attention. He turns out to be a fair singer and songwriter ... read more

Tracks:

1. Mandolin Meltdown [Staats]
2. Coal Tattoo [Wheeler]
3. Legend of the Ghost Coon [Staats]
4. Wires and Wood [Meter/Bays/Ely/Sowe]
5. Shafer's Reel [Staats]
6. Escape from Taiwan [Staats]
7. You Can't Take It With You When You Go [Cordle/Shell/Colwel]
8. Catch Me If You Can [Staats]
9. Timbuktu [Henley]
10. Jessica's Lullaby [Staats]
11. John"Barty" Jam [Public Domain]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.