It’s rather difficult to differentiate between traditional bluegrass and what is commonly referred to as progressive. Such an antiquated genre leaves little room for growth or experimentation. Apart from Sam Bush, I’m gonna say that most progressive bluegrass stylings sound only slightly different than a traditional mode.

The Nashville Bluegrass Band are considered progressive and while they offer a good deal more style than most current bluegrass acts, I can’t commit myself to saying that its are beyond the norm – that band’s not moving the genre forward. The group is however putting out really fine recordings after more than two decades in the music business.

Twenty Year Blues starts off with a quick, one-two strutting bass line and eventually moves into an impassioned fiddle lead. “Garfield’s Blackberry Blossom” isn’t the high point of the album, but certainly sets the standard quite high. It also lets us hear Dennis Crouch stretch out on the bass, something that is seriously entertaining.

There are a few standard love songs on this slab, “That’s All Right” with its tight harmonies and “Tell Me You Love Is Still True.” The gospel-inflected a-capella of “Hush” is almost startling when it comes along in the midst of all the down stokes and fast bluegrass tempo, but ultimately one of the most entertaining tracks.

An atypical moment comes in the form of “Luckiest Man Alive.” While the song isn’t an out and out anti-war song, which I would imagine to be hard to come across in this genre, the lyrics do examine the horrific nature of being shipped off to another land just to kill and try to stay alive.

Ignoring the fact that this album hasn’t revolutionized the bluegrass landscape, it still comes highly recommended. And who knows, maybe the group’s next album’ll have synthesizers on it.