No Speed Limit – Sweet Virginia

No Speed Limit is een jonge, dynamische bluegrass band uit Galax, Virginia USA. Op deze cd talrijke eigen composities en natuurlijk ook enkele klassiekers in het genre.

Track Listing:
1. Sweet Virginia - 2:47   2. Blue Ridge Mountain Home - 3:17   3. New East Virginia Blues - 4:38   4. Born a Rambler - 2:42   5. Henry Box Brown - 3:07   6. Whisplash - 2:59   7. Blue Night - 2:33   8. Wayfaring Stranger - 5:11   9. Hometown - 3:01   10. Bluegrass Lullaby - 3:58   11. Jesus Is Alive and Well - 3:33   12. Grayson County Blues - 3:30   13. There's You - 3:45   14. Quecreek (Mine) - 4:37   15. Ruby (Are You Mad at Your Man) - 6:14

Personnel:
Amber Collins (vocals) , Steve Barr (banjo) , Josh Pickett (guitar & vocals) , Ryan Blevins (mandolin & vocals) , Jacob Eller (bass).

Reviews:

1.  AllMusic by Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Thanks to bluegrass' broader commercial acceptance, a new bluegrass band, promising to relate to the here and now while drawing from the deep roots of tradition, appears on the scene every day. This uneasy alliance between the rustic hills of Kentucky and the sound studios of L.A. is an uneasy one, and the results often fall short of the publicity department's brochures. No Speed Limit seems to escape many of the entrapments of contemporary bluegrass on Sweet Virginia, apparently lacking the pretensions of most of its peers. The band's ace in the hole is Amber Collins, a soulful, gutsy singer who sticks much closer to tradition than Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent. Her full-throated vocals gives the impression on the title track and "Blue Ridge Mountain Home" that she's just doing her thing as opposed to worrying about how she might sound on the radio or CMT. It helps considerably that banjoist Steve Barr, guitarist Josh Pickett, mandolinist Ryan Blevins, and bassist Jacob Eller are hot pickers who play well together as a band. There are smoother moments on Sweet Virginia, as with the duet on "New East Virginia Blues," that sound a little too "pretty" and too much like other contemporary bluegrass acts. Overall, though,Sweet Virginia is a solid introduction to a non-typical bluegrass band.

2. Virginia Living
“For an emerging traditionalist bluegrass band that represents the future of roots music, this quintet doesn’t quite fit the mold, either.  What do you say about a group of award-winning musicians so confident in their instrumental prowess that they allow themselves to be upstaged, night after night, by one of the most amazing vocalists, Amber Collins, to come down Route 58 in years?”