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Through its many incarnations, Fleetwood Mac has always had a touch of the high lonesome sound. It certainly came through during the band's early years with brilliant, troubled guitarist Peter Green, who wrote the timeless "Albatross." But the arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in 1975 brought those country leanings even further to the fore. Blessed with a rich, honey-and-whiskey voice, Nicks sang straight from the heartland. And Buckingham's intricate guitar work on songs like "Never Going Back Again" and "World Turning" showed that he'd put in plenty of time pickin' and grinnin' — or, perhaps more appropriately, considering those songs' disheartened lyrics, pickin' and scowlin'. On this disc, though, it's all grins, thanks to eight bluegrass veterans who know how to bring the Mac to the mountain. — Mac Randall