With the release of his first solo album Where We Go, California-based mandolin player Jesse Appelman, has crafted a project characterized by vocal and instrumental harmonies that highlights his mandolin virtuosity without overwhelming. The project arrives two years after Appelman stepped away from a long career in nonprofits to pursue music full time. Since then, Appelman has toured and performed with the Sam Grisman Project, Laurie Lewis and Kathy Kallick, the Brothers Comatose, Mark Schatz, and others.
Five of the eleven tracks on Where Do We Go, produced by John Mailander, are Appelman’s original instrumentals. The opening fiddle tune “Valley Springs” feels reminiscent of old-time jams and square dances. The tune presents a sampler of solos by the album’s main players—Appelman on mandolin, Sami Braman on fiddle, Emily Mann on bass, Eli West on guitar, and Allison de Groot on claw hammer banjo. Another original, the gentle “So Close,” reportedly written two days before the recording session, opens with Appelman’s mandolin, bringing in West on octave mandolin and Mailander on mandolin as well, with Braman’s fiddle line woven through the tune.
