All of you mainstream musical modernists out there will be missing one major down-home treat if you stear clear of this latest effort by Hot Rize, a brilliant bluegrass unit based in Boulder, Colorado. As you might expect, there's chops aplenty: mandolinist-fiddler Tim O'Brien, bassist Nick Forster, banjoist Pete Wernick and guitarist Charles Sawtelle are all unquestionably virtuosos. But what makes Untold Stories more than another impressive traditionalist exercise is the fact that Hot Rize boasts two exceptional songwriters in O'Brien and Forster. In particular, Forster's potent "Shadows in My Room" and O'Brien's heartbreaking "Late in the Day" are the very best sort of cry-in-your-beer country love songs. On a slightly lighter note, the band's version of Alton and Rabon Delmore's "Life's Too Short" is a witty reading of a classic country kiss-off. Untold Stories is an exceptional collection of timeless musical stories well worth passing along. (RS 523)

DAVID WILD