Review:  PETER ROWAN, "REGGAEBILLY" (A-Train Entertainment) - Reggae and bluegrass are two trees growing from the same set of roots, Peter Rowan has said. Indeed, anyone who's listened to a lot of both types of music can hear the rhytmic similarities in the way the bluegrass mandolin or reggae electric guitar comp a rhythm. So it made much sense when bands like the New Grass Revival started working songs by Bob Marley into their sets in the 1970s, or the way Peter Rowan would bring island melodies into his playful Free Mexican Airforce shows. But while reggae may have been adapted to bluegrass instrumentation before, Peter Rowan has now taken the unusual step of bringing grass and folk tunes to reggae on his latest CD, "Reggaebilly." Rowan travelled to Jamaica to record at the legendary Tuff Gong Studios with some of the island's best known studio artists: Earl Chinna Smith (guitar), Squidley Cole (drums), Robbie Lyn (keyboards) and Chris Livingston (bass). Rowan brought with him a bunch of original songs to have them played island stylee. "Pulling The Devil By The Tail" admonishes the listener to "ignore all alien orders." "Angel Island" tells the story of a Chinese man drawn across the ocean during the Gold Rush of the 1840s-50s. He is forced to leave his fiance behind at the West Coast's version of Ellis Island, never to see her again. Rather than being some dry historical tale, the story is packed with human emotion as well as ringing historically accurate. Rowan also selected a couple of old-time traditionals to bring to the sessions, including an excellent version of the classic "Little Maggie," and "The Cuckoo Bird." The tapes were then brought to Nashville, where such luminaries as Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Jerry Douglass (dobro and lap steel), and Eddie Adcock (banjo) sweetened the whole thing, bringing the reggae further back towards "hillbilly" territory. Featuring Rowan's delightfully smooth voice throughout (except for the journey into instrumental dub at the conclusion of the disc), this disc unites reggae, folk and bluegrass like nothing before it. (From PauseRecord.com)