Walk This Mountain Down (Hadley Music Grouop, 2009)

Donna Ulisse, who once upon a time had a country deal with Atlantic back about 1990, deserves to stand out from the pack. Ulisse, a Virginia-born singer/songwriter now living in Nashville and playing bluegrass, has songs smart and full of feeling. Loving Every Minute and The Trouble With You are good examples of her writing talent. All tunes are originals, with some outstanding gospel offerings as well, The Key and Dust To Dust.

Ulisse possesses a very warn and appealing vocal delivery. While it's not fair to compare artists, Ulisse sounds a great deal like Pam Tillis and like fellow bluegrasser, Dale Ann Bradley without the edge. It's new bluegrass music with enough of a traditional feel to appeal to die-hards. The instrumentation here, featuring "A' list players like Scott Vestal on banjo, Rob Ickes on Dobro and Andy Leftwitch on fiddle/mandolin, is top-notch. This is just a flat-out enjoyable album.