A Little Girl...A Big Four-Lane

by Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.Bill Monroe's music has undergone a sea change since Alison Krauss first burst upon the scene in the 1980s. Krauss threw the door wide open for other female traditionalists, while adding a modern sheen to the most rustic of country music styles. Alecia Nugent, like Krauss or even Dolly Parton, combines country-flavored vocals with a contemporary bluegrass sound on her sophomore effort, A Little Girl...A Big Four-Lane. What immediately strikes one, whether listening to the upbeat opener, "Too Good to Be True," or the quieter "God Knows What," is Nugent's confidence. She holds forth in a full-throated style with a slight twang that reveals a singer who knows what she wants to accomplish and just how she's gonna do it. It doesn't hurt one's confidence to be backed by great players like Dobroist Rob Ickes, fiddler Jim Van Cleve, acoustic guitarist Andy Falco, and a number of other fine players. Interestingly, A Little Girl...A Big Four-Lane may be less pure than, say, a Stanley Brothers album from the 1950s, but Nugent does sound like real country, the kind like Loretta Lynn made during the 1960s. The key to the difference is that while a number of instruments -- banjo, mandolin, and fiddle -- are common to both country and bluegrass, bluegrass bands (even those who concoct a more contemporary sound) seldom use drums as Nugent does here (tastefully played by Tony Creasman). So A Little Girl...A Big Four-Lane is a solid follow-up for Nugent that should please both contemporary bluegrass fans and the folks who miss good old-fashioned country.