The Mosley Brothers: The Mosley Brothers

A young quartet of old souls, the Mosley Brothers—Joey and Jacob Mosley with Johnny Calamari and Dean Phillips—step squarely into the vanguard of bluegrass music’s new generation with a sensibility rooted in solid bluegrass tradition while also embracing progressive rhythmic ideas. Exploring themes of love and loss, home and family, struggle and spiritual longing, the band gets to the heart of the human experience. In “Exactly What I Need,” a captivating midtempo ballad fueled by Dean Phillips’ low-key banjo, a man “broken as a broken man can be” realizes the world’s riches are no substitute for a good woman’s enduring love. In “Carry Me,” a driving arrangement is the backdrop for a close-harmonized, intense plea for emotional support through hard times. The dirge-like “Rain and Snow,” featuring a discursive mandolin solo out of the Chris Thile playbook, is a harrowing kissoff of an abusive partner, whereas abject heartbreak could hardly be expressed with more piercing poignance than it is in “My Baby’s Gone,” a Louvin Brothers gem done to a T here. One album does not a career make, but it can be a career-making moment. Behold.