As a long-time fan of Mac Wiseman (born Malcolm B. Wiseman, May 23, 1925 ), I looked forward (cautiously) to reviewing this CD, an album of 15 covers of Wiseman tunes, including a number of my favorites. For those who don’t know, Mac Wiseman is a Virginia boy, conservatory trained, having played with many of the best—Bill Monroe among others—at many venues, including the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. He has the magic combination, sincerity and great bluegrass sound.

So along comes Jerry Wicentowski, born in Brooklyn, New York, a fan of Mac since he was 17 years old. Having a yen for bluegrass, he played with a band, the Bluegrass Hoppers, in the Madison WI area, for both students and the locals. In the interim he picked up an undergraduate degree and a masters, and later became a financial planner, which flies in the face of current wisdom that bluegrass pickers seldom know how to count higher than the number of strings on their instrument. That, by the way, is why mandolin pickers tend to be the smartest in a bluegrass group, they have to count up to 8! In 1998 he came out with a CD Lucky Break, which brought him to national attention. However, wishing to show his gratitude to the long-time favorite of bluegrass fans and pickers, in 2017 he put together the CD Thanks Mac!

Lyrics For Machucando

Thanks For That Macbeth

As a tribute to Mac Wiseman, which contains sincere covers of tunes made famous by his hero. Working with Joe Mullins, vocals, Shad Cobb and Jenny Obert, fiddlers, Marc MacGlashan, mandolin, Jeremy Stephens, 5-string banjo and Paul Kowert, he presents us with some down home bluegrass tracks. The reviewer’s favorites are the first track, “Love Letters in the Sand,” and later tracks “Homestead on the Farm” and “We Live in Two Different Worlds.” The “sands” track harks back to another type of music sung by (pardon me) Pat Boone, but finally resonates the way it should. There are two tracks penned by Mac Wiseman, “Are you Coming Back to Me” and “’Tis Sweet to be Remembered.” Both songs ably showcase Wiseman’s writing talents and Jerry’s musicianship.