Toronto mandolin maestro Andrew Collins and his trio partners, multi-instrumentalist Mike Mezzatesta (mandolin, guitar, fiddle) and James McEleney (double bass, mandocello) have recorded an album here which defies categorisation but which draws on a myriad of classical and folk influences, and it’s chock-a-block with instrumental virtuosity. Chambergrass is a label which has been used to describe artists with similar genre-hopping tendencies and top notch musicianship, including The Bee-Eaters from California and the mighty Punch Brothers. The fact that And It Was Good is a completely instrumental release also draws me towards the chambergrass comparison – to include no vocals at all is quite unusual although not unknown, especially in the related category of old-time music, where tunes are more common than songs in the live music tradition. Even here, most artists try to leaven their recorded music with a few songs. Andrew Collins has been acclaimed on the Canadian acoustic scene for many years, including for his stint with the Foggy Hogtown Boys, and although And It Was Good was only recently released in the UK, it’s already won Instrumental Album of the Year in the 2016 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
