(Vince Hoffard - Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - Southern Illinoisan)

 

The Gordons will be in concert at 8 p.m. July 26 at Alligator Music in Sparta and at noon July 27 at the Liberty Baptist Church, five miles east of Johnston City. Several late summer and fall dates are being finalized for various area festivals.

 

Gloom and despair seem to ooze from every pore of the conductor's skin. He stands on the bottom step of a passenger car as it creeps into the station behind a shiny black locomotive, which is filling the air with giant puffs of smoke.

 

Thousands of remorseful mourners are waiting at each stop. The mood of the country is at an all-time low, having barely survived four years of the Civil War. And now this tragedy. People travel for miles and wait for hours for a glimpse of the casket of fallen U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The Gordons paint vivid images of the event in new song ``Lincoln's Funeral Train,'' which is included on a new 14-song compact disc titled ``Our Time.'' It was was officially released July 8.

 

The song was actually on a previous record, ``Live From Holland.''

 

``We wanted to flush it out and put other players on it,'' says Garry Gordon, lead singer. ``The new version has a completely different feel.''

 

Gordon, who has owned and operated Alligator Music in Sparta for the past 22 years, says the project was six years in the making. The popular bluegrass duet was busy opening the new Inside-Out Studio in rural Perry County, using a precise blend of vintage and modern equipment to give customers a high-quality sound at each recording session.

 

Musicians and artists from throughout the country flocked to the serene location, nestled in the rural woods. Time went by quickly as Gordon produced many of the albums being cranked out at the studio, but none of the new music was by The Gordons .

 

Finally, the husband-wife team was tired of getting pushed to the back burner. They had fallen in love with several song from songwriters they idolized and had their own strong compositions they longed to put out to the loyal legion of fans they have in several countries.

 

After clearing schedules and after months and months of painstakingly perfecting each cut on the new record, it was easy to come up with the title.

 

``It was a lot of hard work getting the studio established,'' Gordon said.

``For a solid two years, I was busy with other things. We enjoy working with other artists but finally decided this had to be `Our Time.'``

Maybe the two best cuts on the new project are ``Thank You for Reminding Me'' and opening track ``I Can't Settle Down,'' an uptempo bluegrass number chock full of banjo, mandolin and fiddle. Both tunes are co-written by Gordon's wife, Roberta.

 

``I was on the couch listening to Roberta and Tim Carter write `I Can't Settle Down.' It was an amazing process that only took about an hour,'' Gordon says. ``We wrote `Thank You For Reminding Me' about our son Noah. Robert Bowlin lends background guitar and fiddle on this folksy country duet.''

 

Bowlin is a former member of the late ``Father of Bluegrass'' Bill Monroe's band.

 

Like a good father never showing favoritism towards any of his children, Gordon refuses to identify any of the songs as the best efforts on the new album.

 

``I think every song on the album is equal,'' he says. ``Each song takes the listener to a different place. There are many different feelings and musical styles woven into the fabric of this project. We are proud of the cool, powerful overall journey.''

 

Repeated listenings of the CD will lead to often changing your favorite song.

 

The first time it might be the story of cruel ``Blackjack Davey'' stealing the daughter of a wealthy merchant; next it might be the toned-down arrangement of traditional ``Shady Grove.'' I kept going back to ``300 Miles From Hazard,'' about a man venturing far from home to find work, while his unfaithful wife is ``raising hell in every motel between Hazard and Lexington.''

 

The album has been critically acclaimed.

 

`` The Gordons conjure up memories of a sweet rural world now long vanished,'' says Edward Morris of Billboard. Robert Oermann of Music Row compares The Gordon's ``simplicity and purity'' to The Carter Family.

 

The Gordons have been making an impact on the local music scene since the 1970s. The core of the bluegrass sound has always been Gary's smooth Gallagher guitar and dobro, perfectly accompanied by Roberta on her Appalachian autoharp .

 

Through the years, they have released eight albums. With new music comes a renewed commitment to hitting the road.

 

``We are working at putting some tour dates together,'' Gordon says. ``It's not an easy thing to do in this day and time, but we are going to get out for as many shows as we can.''