Hailing from Vancouver, B.C., Jackson Hollow is a bluegrass group that has won multiple impressive awards from the B.C. Country Music Association. Featuring lead vocalist Tianna Lefebvre, Jackson Hollow also includes Mike Sanyshyn (fiddle, mandolin), Charlie Frie (bass) and Eric Reed (guitar, banjo). As a married team, Lefebvre and Sanyshyn vocalize with smooth, charming, plainspoken lyrics about love’s frequent twists, turns and rude awakenings in well-crafted songs like “I’m All The Way Gone,” “Shallow Rivers,” “Roses,” “For The Life of Me” and “A Heartache in the Works,” “Travelin’ Heart” and “Look Who’s Talking Now.”  The latter song, written by Jerry Salley, Leslie Satcher and Melba Montgomery, is presented with spot on delivery, and the band brings it to life as they tell us of a long-standing relationship twist.

Another standout is their bluegrass rendition of the 1991 Pam Tillis number, “Put Yourself in My Place,” written by Carl Jackson and Pam Tillis. An uplifting heartbreak song, it calls us to take a broader view and perspective of our problems. Together, with the ones we love and confide in, we can face most every trial or challenge that life throws at us.

Lefebvre and Sanyshyn have been in Canada’s country music industry for about two decades. Trips to Wintergrass and other festivals about 2010 hooked them deeply on bluegrass. Lefebvre also has an expressed desire to play excellent acoustic music where nothing is hidden. She bemoans the direction that contemporary country music is taking. Sanyshyn is a third-generation fiddler who grew up on old-time, country and folk music. They received a grant from Creative B.C. to put this album together, and they had only seven months to produce it. A song plugger helped Lefebvre find material that she could emotionally connect with like “Travelin’ Heart” and “Shallow Rivers.”

Poised to bring their brand of radio-friendly contemporary Canadian bluegrass to a much larger audience, Jackson Hollow was signed by the Mountain Fever label in 2021. Western bluegrass often has a slightly different, and more eclectic, feel than some born in Appalachia. However, Roses lands its punches early and often in a particularly potent set of grassified acoustic country heart scorchers. On a few tracks, Jeff Scroggins, Michael Kilby and John Reischman appear as guests on banjo, resophonic guitar and mandolin, respectively. You’ll certainly enjoy Jackson Hollow’s stylish and heartfelt vocals with a constant stream of fresh sounding material, enhancing the band’s appeal with equally fresh arrangements and production. As they continue to climb their upward trajectory, expect them to win even more awards on regional, national and international stages. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)