High Windy

A lot of bluegrass acts choose one of two paths: traditional bluegrass or contemporary acoustic music. Western North Carolina's High Windy stand out because the quintet travels both. For a debut album, A Greater Storm feels awfully confident; the group's picking and vocals are elegant and stylish. What really stands out, however, is their songwriting, which kind of makes sense, considering banjoist Patrick McDougal has written material for the likes of Grammy-nominated Dan Tyminski.