The Freight says farewell to 2001 and welcomes the new year, bluegrass style. In keeping with tradition, High Country heads up our annual gala. The group's 1998 album, The Earthquake (Strictly Country), firmly reinforced its status as California's premier band in the Bill Monroe and Stanley Brothers tradition. With driving rhythm, deft picking, and soulful singing, High Country is led by Butch Waller, who saw his own solo mandolin album, Golden Gate Promenade (Rebel), gain acclaim in 1999. The band includes banjo player Larry Cohea, bassist Glenn Dauphin, fiddler Tom Bekeny, Bob Waller, on guitar, and Jim Mintun on guitar and dobro. Dix Bruce and Jim Nunally perform tunes in the down-home style: two voices and two acoustic guitars, mixing folk, bluegrass, and country, spiced with humor, harmony, and hot picking. Their latest CD, The Way Things Are (Muzix), brings together original as well as traditional folk and classic Americana by Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash, and others, all performed with a mixture of wit, emotion, energy, and sincerity.