The View

Attended a Bluegras Festival at which "The Roys" appeared. They are marvelous!! And they did a tune from this CD called "SomeTimes" in honor of their grandmother who passed away as result of Alzheimer's Disease. Sadly, my wife is also a victim and when The Roys sang this song at the festival, I cried like a baby. And after they fiinished their set, I spoke with Elaine Roy, told her of our situation, and we both cried together. It was wonderful!! Although I have a place in my heart for "Track 4", the entire album is just marvelous bluegrass!! Lee & Elaine produce some great singing and harmonies, and the backup could not be better! Even if you are not into bluegrass, this is just some great music making!

for anyone that love's country music this is must buy it is great.

ok

Some really beautiful music here! I particularly find Lee Roy's use of mandocello with mandola and mandolin and bowed bass, on the title track, "The View", to be lush, appropriate, and haunting.I'm also quite hooked by the instrumental, "Northern Skies", which really feels like a NEW song, not just a rehashing of bits of other songs -- as is the case for many bluegrass instrumentals these days. Tremendous mandolin work ! ! !This album conveys a consistently kind, positive and energetic world view . . . which is just fine since the songs are so good they'll tend to leave lyrics echoing in your head all through the day.

For their fourth album in four years, the brother-sister duo Elaine and Lee Roy (better known as The Roys) have decided to use their touring band for this release and recorded it in their own studio. Lee wrote or co-wrote all 11 songs on this 37 minute album and Elaine collaborated on five of them.This is what one would expect from a traditional bluegrass album: songs about family, God and country played by a five piece band with guitar, mandolin, fiddle, dobro banjo and string bass). There’s nothing wrong with that and The Roys’ last three CDs were all chart toppers.Like every album there are some standout tracks. For me there are three (maybe four): “Those Boots” is a tribute to those who serve (or have served) in the military. It’s a patriotic song which a melody the will encourage folks to (rightfully) sing along. “Mandolin Man” is their tribute to the Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe, and, though Lee is the mandolin player in the band, the album insert lists Doyle Lawson as a “special guest” on this track, so I’m guessing that’s Lawson picking away. Speaking of “pickin’” I really liked Lee’s solo-write, the albums sole instrumental – “Northern Skies” – with lots of interplay between the banjo and mandolin.Though we don’t know if the songs are autobiographical, “Sometimes” speaks of the oncoming of Alzheimer disease and the title track – “The View” – is about visiting a grandparents grave. The most –published country music songwriter – and performer himself – Bill Anderson helped Lee and Elaine write this track. Yes, there is the requisite song about Jesus and God (“Mended Wings”) and another about dying coal miners “ Black Gold” here as well.The CD contains an eight-panel foldout with the lyrics to all the songs (in print that will probably require you to seek out a magnifying glass.) and a full page of “thank you”’s (again in tiny typeface.Though The Roys have made the stage of Country’s Grand Old Opry, and I had the chance to hear them and meet them (what really nice folks they are) at this year’s International Folk Alliance Conference, they are mainly a bluegrass band, and a fine one at that. My guess is this album will go high on the bluegrass charts – just like the others. If you are a fan of The Roys, you’ll certainly like this one.I hope this review has been informative and helpful.Steve Ramm“Anything Phonographic”

THE VIEW is a well-constructed compilation of well-written lyrics, talented picking and classic vocals. Each track solidifies the reason why THE ROYS were named Top Bluegrass Artists at the 10th Annual International Acoustic Music Awards (Feb. 2014), as well as at the Inspirational Country Music Awards for 2011, 2012 and 2013.See the full review at http://kellyscountry.blogspot.com/2014/09/turntable-tuesday-view-roys.html