Satisfied
These two wily Greenwich Village folk veterans met as students at NYU and as pickers in the Washington Square Park jam sessions. It was four decades later that singer/guitarist Sebastian and mandolinist Grisman finally reconnected, and that reunion spawned this unassuming recording, a nostalgic, low-key stroll. There are moments here worth savoring, such as the gentle, light-hearted reading of Mississippi John Hurt’s “I’m Satisfied” and the slowed-down, grooved-up version of “EMD,” the jazzy newgrass classic that kicked off Grisman’s debut Quintet album. “Walk Right Back,” Sonny Curtis’s country-pop chestnut, is given a delightfully understated instrumental treatment, as is Will Shade’s “Jug Band Waltz” (with Sebastian on harp) and Grisman’s original “Dawg’s Waltz” (originally recorded with Jerry Garcia). The pair even takes a crack at the Spoonful’s “Coconut Grove,” although their brief amble through Sebastian’s “Daydream” is hidden at the end of the final track.