Don Rigsby and Dudley Connell

Rigsby and Connell superbly capture that pure harmonizing connected with the brothers Louvin and Everly, and they’ve got the sacred, the profane and the dead covered. Entering their third decade of experience in various bluegrass bands—Seldom Scene and Longview for Connell, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs and Lonesome River Band for Rigsby—they join here to sing of reckless nights (the title cut), redemption from sin (a perfect a cappella version of “You May Sing of the Beauties”) and death (a haunted “Let Me Fly Low” and the chestnut “Where is my Sailor Boy”). Rigsby is the best and most versatile bluegrass tenor since the late John Duffey, and Connell is a fine complement. They also fit Dylan’s “Hollis Brown” and Johnny Cash’s “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” into the Southern mold with solid results. Those who were taken by the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack can find more of the same here.