A few weeks back the Kopsas’ latest CD was given a nice warm review in Bob Everhart’s Tradition Bulletin. This weekly email news of events and people in Traditional and Old Country Music also includes reviews of recordings that come Bob’s way, and the Kopsas’ last CD found its way into this review. Tesco Productions had the opportunity of recording this CD as well as their prior disc. Here’s the major points of Bob’s comments.
“The Kopsa Family lives in Elkhorn, Nebraska. This family band is in an evolvement experience. I reviewed their previous album [“Lord Lead Me On”] in 2014, and was delighted with their obvious dedication and long-time rehearsals getting an album ready to record. This second album, forwarded [by] one of their fans John Cox, shows us an advancement especially in their instrument playing and harmony singing. It’s a large family – three girls and two boys [that are primarily featured]. [Their] children’s instrumentation is pretty much traditional bluegrass, youngest boy on banjo, oldest boy on mandolin. Without knowing who’s doing what, the three sisters play fiddle, acoustic guitar, and acoustic bass. That’s pretty much a standard bluegrass approach, however this young family places most of their efforts on old-timey sounding gospel music, which they do best. The younger voices are of course ‘younger’ voices, but the older voices are already peaking very nicely. It’s a very young voice that sings “Cattle Call” [and] this difficult song [is done] very well. Another song I like really well is “Freight Train” which was created and played by Elizabeth Cotton, a black artist who had the strings on her guitar strung backwards. [This] song here [is] played well on guitar and mandolin with equally good vocal presentations. I’ve got several ‘favorites’ this time around. I thought “Glory Bound” was extremely well done, but so was “On The Wings Of A Snow White Dove.” This family has been working hard on their harmony as well as their instruments. Not difficult for me to forward this delightful project to the Rural Roots Music Commission, who really love young people playing America’s rural music, which this band does so well. Rural music is rapidly disappearing in America. So are a lot of our morals. It is a refreshing opportunity for me to hear that it is not totally gone. The Kopsa Family is a musical act to watch, listen to, support, and share. I will be forwarding this project to the Rural Roots Music Commission with the high hopes that they will give the nod to ‘young’ CD of the Year to this very deserving family band.
RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART – Pres., NTCMA“
