Chicago Tribune columnist, and long-time bluegrass fan, David Royko is back with his annual list of the Best Recordings in Bluegrass for 2005. This year’s list includes some old and new, as Royko mentions both new releases and a couple of reissues and compilations with older, previously-released material.

As he put it in his brief introduction to the list:

“The bluegrass music world owes much of its vitality to the musical diversity of its practitioners and their collective comfort (and occasional discomfort) with maintaining the traditions of the past while forging ahead into innovative territory. These are some particularly exciting recordings that, together, exemplify the music’s balancing of the past with the future.”

David Royko is both a skillful writer and an insightful critic, and we commend his Trib article to all of our readers.