Billboard Review
"Through the Window of a Train"

When it came time to record its eighth album, Blue Highway decided to hunker down at storied Maggard Sound in Big Stone Gap, Va., hoping to conjure the magic that Ralph Stanley and others have made there. History will show the group made a fine decision. Self-penned and self-produced, the album builds on the band's already impressive résumé. Standouts include "Sycamore Hollow," a vocal and instrumental narrative of love and death set during the Civil War, and "Two Soldiers," a percipient look at the servicemen charged with notifying next of kin of the death of a loved one. "Homeless Man" is a stark reflection on a life lost. It's a testament to its immense talents and friendship that after 14 years together and various side projects, Blue Highway keeps creating music that connects and entertains.  [Feb 2008]

—Ken Tucker

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Bluegrass Unlimited Review
July 2008

After fourteen years and eight albums together, Blue Highway possesses an enviable maturity and remarkable stability. Thus the band both needed and recognized the need for a change of pace with their latest project. Rather than recording in Nashville , Blue Highway headed into Southwestern Virginia to use Alan Maggard's studio in Big Stone Gap and assumed, for the first time, the producer's role for themselves. In this way, Blue Highway has achieved a deceptively understated masterpiece with 'Through the Window of a Train.'

Blue Highway is a veteran, cerebral bluegrass band featuring deep, and, here, very intimate music and thoughtful lyrics. A band is lucky to have one first-rate lead vocalist, yet Blue Highway enjoys three in bassist Wayne Taylor, guitarist Tim Stafford, and Shawn Lane , who plays fiddle and mandolin. With acclaimed resonator guitarist Rob Ickes and banjoist Jason Burleson, Blue Highway offers an equally powerful instrumental lineup. The on-the-fly arrangements on the album lend an uplifting freshness and spontaneity to the recording.

The triumph of this recording derives not so much for the exquisite playing and lovely singing as it does the breakthrough songwriting. Bandmembers at least co-wrote each of the dozen tracks. Stafford contributed the most with five credits, the reliable Taylor provides a pair of songs, Lane wrote four pieces, and Burleson composed an engaging instrumental, 'The North Cove.'

Never before has a bluegrass album composed entirely by band members achieved this high a level of song craft from start to finish. Lane, Stafford and Taylor have moved beyond writing great songs, as we have come to expect from them, and entered into the world of genuine art. As songwriters, the three now demonstrate a mastery of imaginative creativity. Rather than just writing intriguing songs that tell stories, the stories now seem to be fully their own, no matter how far they move beyond the composers' lives.

Often on the recording, they approach the stories from unique perspectives as well. 'Two Soldiers,' by Stafford and Wood Newton, addresses war from the view of the soldiers who deliver the worst news to families. 'A Week From Today,' which Tim co-wrote with Bobby Starnes, takes us inside the mind of a fifty-year convict terrified at being dumped into the world beyond bars. One can listen to Lane's immediately memorable and singable 'V-Bottom Boat' before realizing it is a metaphorical gospel song. His elegant 'Where Did the Morning Go?' captures the regrets that compound as middle-age turns to old. Taylor 's 'Homeless Man' treats the plight of many American military veterans without ever becoming maudlin.

The title song frames the entire album's content. Blue Highway shows us what they see through the windows of a train in perhaps the best bluegrass album of the young century.

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DIRTY LINEN Review
June/July 2008

Blue Highway has long been heralded as one of the best performing groups in contemporary bluegrass, but its eighth CD, Through the Window of a Train , showcases the group's mastery of songwriting, the Achilles' heel of many of its peers. The album's strong suit is vivid, heartfelt story songs, including the sentimental title tune, the poignant Vietnam vet tribute “Homeless Man,” and “Two Soldiers,” which views war from the standpoint of those charged with the task of informing the families of war casualties. The group's ensemble vocal prowess is particularly evident on “V-Bottom Boat,” a contemporary gospel retelling of Noah and the ark. As usual, the group shines instrumentally as well, particularly Dobro whiz Rob Ickes and banjo picker Jason Burleson. (MP)

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GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE REVIEW
June 2008

"People always want to know how we arrange songs," says Blue Highway's resonator royalty Rob Ickes. "They'll ask, 'How do you decide who's taking the next solo?' I tell them that we just start playing. A lot of people spend too much time talking about music. Bluegrass is a language that everyone in this band has grown up speaking, so we don't have to say much to play it."

They might not say much with words, but [they] speak volumes on their instruments. Their ninth album, Through the Window of a Train [Rounder], is packed with killer flatpicking, amazing resonator work, and the kind of head-spinning call-and-response instrumental sparring that makes buegrass so damn exciting.

- Matt Blackett

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FOLKWAX Review 3.19.08
Through the Window of a Train: A Musical Trip Through Life
FolkWax Rating: 10

From the first decisive banjo notes, Through the Window of a Train is off on a rolling, rollicking journey. A concept album, this train travels deeper and deeper into the valleys of loss and hills of change in this collection of mighty, mighty songs. Tim Stafford (guitar, vocals), Wayne Taylor (lead vocals, bass), Shawn Lane (tenor vocals, guitar, mandolin, fiddle), Rob Ickes (Dobro, Scheerhorn acoustic slide guitar), and Jason Burleson (banjo, guitar, mandolin, bass vocals) have married music and song, self-producing and writing an album you'll listen to for a lifetime... [T]his one has it all.

[The] title song, "Through the Window of a Train," is likely to become a new Bluegrass classic. "Sycamore Hollow" harkens back as a man tells how his wife was stolen during war time, how he sought her out and won her back by blood.... Rob Ickes' Dobro becomes the voice of the soul....

With Blue Highway composed of "Dream Team" players, each takes a turn in the spotlight.... But it's the band, a tight group that is more than the sum of its parts, that is the beating heart of the song and the lyrics behind the marvelous musical muscle of [this] recording.

Characters roam the album, ghosts whose stories are at last being told, the music releasing them from their purgatories. Many of these songs restore dignity to the ordinary and the downtrodden....

Shawn Lane 's "Where Did The Morning Go?" rings a philosophical chord.... This song alone is worth the price of several CDs; a song you'll want to hear repeatedly as you yourself age and to share with friends. Vocals shine on the cowboy song "My Ropin' Days Are Done." "The V-Bottom Boat," in uplifting tenor accompanied by Gospel harmonies, rides the river on up to heaven.

A left-behind love song, "Just Another Gravel On the Road," closes this remarkable musical trip through Bluegrass and through life. With its instrumental virtuosity; teasing, weaving, and pleasing vocals and appealing, sensitive songs, Through the Window of a Train is a vacation road trip for the listener. How they will surpass this one remains to be seen.

-Deborah Douglas Wilbrink, FolkWax contributing editor.

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Bluegrass Music Profiles  
May/June 2008 Review, "Through the Window of a Train"

These reflective, self-written songs continue through bluegrass's timeless subjects with new vision. The album features thoughtful takes on life's experiences and passings, demonstrating bluegrass's power to plumb depths as well as win the break races. Where Did the Morning Go? casts a long background shadow behind all the characters living on this album, as these maturing men stand back and take a long look, pooling their wisdom in music and in life. The band gives their instrumental talents a spot to shine in North Cove. For the rest it's all about the song! Ride along on a civil war kidnapping rescue. Take a gospel boat ride to heaven. Join a cowboy facing retirement. Open the door to Two Soldiers and their all-too-familiar message. Wait with a prisoner on his last week of sentence Meet a homeless veteran. This is one to treasure! 

- Deborah Douglas Wilbrink, BMP

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Bluegrass Now Review
05.08

A new album from Blue Highway typically bodes well for bluegrass, and Through the Window of a Train [is] no exception...  "Homeless Man," [Wayne] Taylor's wellcrafted account of an abandoned veteran, is eclipsed only by the stunning imagery of "Two Soldiers," written by Stafford and Wood Newton. With both songs, Blue Highway brilliantly sidesteps the controversy of war in favor of far more moving personalization of its undeniably tragic consequences.  The military motif certainly befits Blue Highway and its unmatched musical arsenal. The instrumental "The North Cove," the unexpected "A Week from Today," and the reflective "Where Did the Morning Go?" all demonstrate the numerous options available to this quintet of five all-star instrumentalists, four superb songwriters, and three soulful lead vocalists.

By the time the collection closes with "Just Another Gravel in the Road," it's clear that Through the Window of a Train is another milestone for today's most consistently excellent bluegrass band.

-Tim Walsh

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County Sales Newsletter
May/June 2008 Review, "Through the Window of a Train"

This wonderful band adds to its reputation as one of the very best contemporary Bluegrass groups in the country with this top notch recording of all new and original material. It is nothing less than amazing that the group’s five members are exactly the same today as when they cut their first album for Rebel in 1995—the marvelously consistent and tasteful sounds they achieve reinforce the fact that there is no substitute for time and experience. The songs here—all written by members of the band—are all excellent, and are delivered with conviction and power by the band’s 3 superb vocalists: Wayne Taylor, Shawn Lane and Tim Stafford. Rob Ickes' dobro work is as smooth & tasteful as ever. It is a thrill to listen to this beautifully produced album, the work of a thoroughly professional and highly artistic band. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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CMT Blog: Blue Highway Is Heading in the Right Direction
Posted 02.11.08
By: Craig Shelburne

One of my all-time favorite bluegrass songs is "Still Climbing Mountains" by Blue Highway. There is just something about that Dobro intro, and I love how the melody climbs and crests. That's one of the reasons I'm such a fan of these guys. They have a knack for arranging the music to emphasize what's going on in the story. It's never blatant or cheesy, yet it does underscore the emotion in the lyrics.

They must get that comment a lot, because when I met them last month before a show in Nashville, they said a lot of people ask how they arrange their songs. Their secret? Well, they just play what feels right. And when they get the track down, they make sure not to overthink it, or over-fix it, to retain the natural sound. The same notion goes for their new album, Through the Window of a Train, which comes Tuesday (Feb. 12) on Rounder Records.

Four out of the five guys live near Big Stone Gap, Va., so this time they recorded close to home at Maggard Sound, rather than Nashville. Citing the funky living room environment in the studio, they all agreed that it was an easy record to make.

"In music, you can't replace where you're from. In bluegrass, you can't replace being from that area. There's like a vein of music through there," says Shawn Lane, who plays mandolin, guitar and fiddle. (He also wrote and sang one of my favorite Blue Highway songs, "Between the Rows," about growing up on a farm and not realizing how good you had it.)

Blue Highway tours a lot, so it isn't surprising that traveling is a common theme on the new album. In fact, all the songs on the new CD are written or co-written by members of the band. Hard to believe, but it's the same lineup now as when they won their first IBMA Awards in 1996 for best emerging artist and album of the year. Hopefully they'll be climbing mountains, crossing rivers and picking at festivals for years to come.

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Independent Weekly-Raleigh-Durham, NC
01.30.08

Defined by their near-ferocious picking and majestically hi-tempo licks, Tennessee 's Blue Highway bristles with winsome energy while echoing the loneliness of bluegrass past. What's more, their commanding lyrics swell and swivel above the roots-twang stomp. —Kathy Justice

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Voice of America Review 2.22.08
Something for Everyone on Blue Highway's 'From The Window Of A Train'
by Katherine Cole
Washington-22 February 2008

They say it's impossible to please everyone. For the past 14 years, however, Blue Highway has been releasing CDs that contain enough of the elements of classic bluegrass to keep traditionalists happy, while also injecting enough of their own style, making their sound fresh and palatable to those who prefer a more modern sound....

Unusually, each of the five men in the group writes songs, and the band has three lead singers: Guitarist Tim Stafford, who won a Grammy as a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lane, and bassist Wayne Taylor, who wrote a tale of a veteran down on his luck, called "Homeless Man."

Blue Highway isn't afraid to tackle tough issues in their songs. The songs on From The Window Of A Train include that sympathetic look at the life of a homeless veteran who feels alienated from the country he defended. In Tim Stafford's "Two Soldiers," two officers on the Army's funeral detail describe their days of telling people that their loved ones won't be coming home. The group's third singer, mandolin and fiddle player Shawn Lane, wrote a third of the songs on From The Window Of A Train, including "Where Did The Morning Go." The song, about the passage of time, showcases the exceptional vocal harmony in Blue Highway.

The singing on Blue Highway 's From The Window Of A Train is every bit as exceptional as longtime fans have come to expect from the group, that also includes multi-instrumentalist Jason Burleson, and Grammy-winning dobro player Rob Ickes. Newcomers will also find plenty to like on this CD, including the stellar musicianship that you'd expect from one of the most popular bands in bluegrass.

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Bluegrass's Contemporary Class
Smoky Mountain News 02.06.08

[I]f any group of musicians could comfortably fit under the umbrella of "contemporary" (in the best sense) it's probably Blue Highway...

There's the writing, [with] tried and true themes of heartache, traveling and spirituality. But dig in a little and you'll find telling social commentary in songs like "Homeless Man" and "Two Soldiers." Instrumentally, the band displays an effortlessness and fire that's hard to match... Every instrument, every voice fits together like finely cut puzzle pieces. Nothing more, nothing less.

An early highlight is "Sycamore Hollow," which spins a tale of kidnapping and vengeance during the Civil War, with a hypnotic, almost modal solo section that finds the band flexing their considerable arranging muscles...

Two of the most powerful tunes here are "Homeless Man" and "Two Soldiers." The former paints the portrait of a Vietnam vet that fell upon the hardest of times, poor beyond poor, disconnected from his family and forgotten by his country. The latter is a poignant and timely story of the crisply dressed soldiers assigned the duty of delivering the worst of news to military families at home. Tim Stafford's warm but matter of fact delivery, along with some excellent lyrics, never over-romanticizes the subject matter. "A Week From Today" explains the plight of an aging convict that's spent so much of his life in prison that he can't fathom a life without stone walls and iron bars around him.

Respite from such heavy stuff comes in the form of a burning instrumental cut, "The North Cove," which enters with a sinuous unison melody line for banjo and fiddle, and follows with a series of extended solos. [T]he band tempers barn-burning technique with thoughtful melodic command, culminating in a tune with more to chew on than just the whiz-bang pyrotechnics of many modern bluegrass instrumentals.

- Chris Cooper

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COUNTRY STANDARD TIME
“Through the Window of a Train”
Review used with permission of Country Standard Time

Classic Blue Highway. After [14] years, they have earned the accolade.

Three lead singers - all talented enough to front a national level band. The rich harmony work is of the Blue Highway signature stack. Wayne Taylor sings with the emotion of man who escaped the coal mines and ain't planning on going back. Tim Stafford continues to craft songs with depth. Some of the best work of Alison Krauss was from his catalogue.

The instrumentation is perfect. From the get go, Jason Burleson opens with the unique style that defines Blue Highway banjo. Rob Ickes continues his Dobro mastery. Shawn Lane exemplifies modern mandolin, yet nods to Monroe legacy with powerful down-strokes on "V Bottom Boat."

They speak to social consciousness too, with songs of forgotten homeless veterans, fallen heroes, and heartbroken families.

The CD is a fine example of how far down the bluegrass highway a democratic band can travel. After all these years, they must have some artistic differences of opinion, but when they speak music, it is with a unified voice. Blue Highway personifies modern acoustic music with respect for tradition. Highly recommended, highly respected.

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Entertainment Weekly Review
05.30.05

‘Bluegrass supergroup' may sound like an oxymoron, but you've earned the title when you boast five singer-songwriters whose résumés include stints with Earl Scruggs, Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs. On Marbletown (out June 7), Blue Highway apply their hot licks and high lonesome vocals to a stack of rueful tunes. Highlight: Guitarist Tim Stafford's waltz 'Quarter Moon' sounds like an instant classic. Why are these guys super? They can make your heart soar even as it's breaking." A-

•  Bob Cannon / Entertainment Weekly

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Detroit Free Press
06.05.05

On a scale measuring adherence to bluegrass music's traditions, Blue Highway falls about midway between the by-the-book sounds of Doyle Lawson and the sometimes-wayward stylings of Alison Krauss. The decade-old five-piece has an eerie way of making bluegrass feel contemporary, edgy even, without abandoning any of the laws laid down by its founding fathers. Much of the credit for that goes to members Tim Stafford and Shawn Lane , who craft songs that pay heed to lyrics and melodies as well as the sterling musicianship for which the music has always been known.

Although this outing opens with the blues-tinged "Marbletown" (from the pen of Mark Knopfler), closes with a revved-up train song and haunts the listener with the dark and hurried "Nothing but a Whippoorwill," it's the mellow moments that linger longest in the mind. Stafford's lovely waltz "Quarter Moon" and bittersweet "I Used to Love Parades" are standouts, as are Lane's aching "Tears Fell on Missouri" and bass player Wayne Taylor's "No Home To Go Home To," a timeless weeper about home, hearth and love.

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