Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum

Tom Rozum’s mandolin starts off his and vocalist/fiddler/guitarist Laurie Lewis’ latest CD, Guest House, properly, launching briskly into the sassy little Lewis original, “Willie Poor Boy.” From there, the Rozum and Lewis duo performs a very nice vocal duet on another Lewis original, the somewhat melancholy “Since You Went Away,” as well as a cover of the Hazel Dickens song “Scars from an Old Love”—a gorgeous, tear-jerking, show-stealer of a song—showcasing Lewis’ beautiful voice, complete with touches of her lovely yodel. On “Quiet Hills,” Rozum and bassist Todd Sickafoose’s back-up bluegrass vocal harmonies are deep and perfect, and the final track, a medley of traditional tunes, “Wild Rose of the Mountain”/ “The Devil Chased Me Around the Mountain”/“Glory at the Meeting House,” arranged by Lewis, Rozum and Sickafoose, is a long instrumental (7 minutes 37 seconds) that is just the right length—it’s that good.