PRE-ORDER: High Fidelity - Never Say Goodbye [Digipak], High Fidelity, CD

In today's bluegrass landscape, High Fidelity is the torch bearer for keeping the roots alive. Never Say Goodbye spans 13 tracks - ten secular, three gospel - built on the same foundation that's defined the band since day one: sharp musicianship, tight harmonies, and an ear for obscure Bluegrass nuggets. The title track "Never Say Goodbye" for instance is a Louvin Brothers original that Ira and Charlie never recorded commercially. Corrina Rose Logston Stephens reworked the song's three original verses into two, and the band cut it in a Jim & Jesse-style arrangement. "When It's Time for the Whippoorwill to Sing" features guests Joe Mullins and Mark Rader, longtime bandmates in The Traditional Grass. Highlights include twin banjos from High Fidelity's Kurt Stephenson and Joe, and a high trio on the final chorus.Other highlights: "The Lonesome Road," a 1927 Gene Austin song discovered via the Delmore Brothers' catalog and, to the band's knowledge, never before recorded in bluegrass; "In the City Where the Lamb Is the Light," an a cappella number unearthed through a lifelong friend's old songbook; "Home in San Antone," marking Daniel Amick's first lead vocal on a High Fidelity record; and blazing instrumentals "Cattle in the Corn" and "Fling Ding." The lead single "Red Ball Rocket Train" continues an unintentional High Fidelity tradition, a train song on every non-gospel album. For a song written in 1950, it's a gem with a strikingly unique chord progression.