Reviewed by Tony Cummings

American session men playing old hymns such as "The Old Rugged Cross" and " Kneeling On The Everlasting Arms" in a country-cum-bluegrass style on old time instruments. If I wanted to indulge in a bit of cheap sociology I could say that these albums owe their huge success to clever old Brentwood Music hooking into America's particular brand of folk religion where an idealised past of Waltons - like simplicity where sentimental imaginings of how that old time religion once was are preferable to the church today with its annoying tendency to start getting all modern. But whether this is or isn't an American pop-religion equivalent of Harry Secombe's 'Highway', I'll leave for now. Suffice to say I really like these old hymns and love their renditions on, as the sleeve blurb says, "hand crafted instruments".

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