Produced by virtuoso dobro player Randy Kohrs, The Bluegrass Diaries follows on from where its predecessor left off, another solid album of high lonesome originals that sees Lauderdale once again sharing co-writing credits with Odie Blackmon and Shawn Camp among other country buddies. You'd really think that with such a prodigious output the occassional "grassed-up" rock classic or traditional number would be slipped in as filler but instead he brings a progressive country mind-set to the proceedings, which produces refreshing songs with a contemporary cross-over appeal. That they're sung in his whisky-soaked, country tenor instead of trying to hit the high notes like Bill Monroe or slip in a Jimmie Rodgers-style yodel on occasion most likely goes towards keeping the eleven cuts here real.