Multi-award winner Junior Sisk and his band: Heather Berry Mabe – guitar/vocals, Jonathan Dillon – mandolin/vocals, Tony Mabe – banjo/vocals and Curt Love – acoustic bass, drop – It’s All Fun And Games – at a time where fun is hard to come by and games are everywhere you look. And that’s not all it’s about, but it covers the gamut around the concept with a few serious parts to balance the fun to be had across the board of 11 new tracks featuring the entire band stretching out. And with Junior Sisk at the forefront of every track on this long player, the rest also get their moments to shine.
URL: https://www.juniorsisk.com/
“Where Love Goes To Die” is the lead off track, and if you like banjos and mandolins, this whole album is for you, but it also follows a killer vocal melody with Heather Berry-Mabe singing behind Junior Sisk, establishing some great vocals and picking to come. The title tack comes next, as “It’s All Fun And Games” makes an early appearance on the track list, as it gets down to the nitty gritty of things, before you’re lost in the rest of the music and it’s nothing too dark, it just explores the topic of getting burned.
“Weather Woman” is as easy on the ears as the eyes, and this is where you start to notice the band is not going to quit with the good bluegrass cliches, and you just wonder what the band will do next on It’s All Fun And Games. These are all top-class players and top shelf songs, with “Still Be Blue” being no exception, as reminiscent of “Heard It In A Love Song” it might be, I always liked that song anyway.
“The Last Time Again” puts the record straight with a song about leaving and coming back one more time again, but not without a grin, and once again you can’t miss the band cooking up something fierce on all these songs. I find this one to be one of my favorites, along with the next one “Sweeter Than Tupelo Honey” which is just about living the country life compared to the hustle bustle of the city life. It’s probably the highlight of It’s all Fun And Games, but it does reach another highpoint before the album is over, as there is more to go.
“Go Back You Fool” sends the message to not take advice from fools or you might become a fool yourself, but it’s tongue in-cheek where Junior Sisk is coming from, as it comes off more comical like a joke song. “Breaking His Heart All Over Again” takes it down a notch, with a heartfelt piece which is probably the slowest track on It’s All Fun And Games. “And Eye I For And I Do” is on the fun side of the album, and a post-love song comes in the shape of “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” which play together very well. “The Devil’s Train” Just makes you want to jump aboard and listen to It’s All Fun And Games in rotation.
Mindy McCall
