“To me, Jim & Jesse’s style is wonderfully unique and readily accessible to any music lover who admires originality.”
— Chuck Berry
“Jesse’s singing voice is like a long-lost brother voice between Jerry Garcia and David Nelson. Everyone who knows their work and who is fortunate enough to hear this record will know what I mean. What a trio you’d all have made! The tracks are modest with no intent to overwhelm or impress. There’s no daredevil to your mandolin work, just rich and restrained musicality which says what it has to say honestly and inventively. So rare. Your vocal style showed me new ways to hear this material. The singing is steady and strong. Jerry would approve, I’m certain. I enjoyed the new song we co-wrote, Day by Day. Especially liked the ‘McReynolds picking’ accompaniment, your signature contribution to bluegrass music.”
— Robert Hunter
“Jesse McReynolds is an American treasure, and the combination of his voice and mandolin with Robert Hunter’s lyrics and Jerry Garcia’s music is… wonderful.” (August 2010)
— Dennis McNally (official historian for the Grateful Dead)
“Jesse’s encanting is just as skillful, direct, and completely unpretentious, a matter of deep respect coupled with a love for the mode and its history. And, man, that mando he plays!, a direct brother to Garcia’s ways and means. This shouldn’t be surprising, though, as McReynolds has been noted for his innovations and cutting edge for well over four decades, and a man still ahead of his time. The guy conveys so damn much without resorting to pyrotechnics that one is reminded of the virtues of nuance and subtlety in very sharp contrast indeed. Yes, he is capable of lightning speed, as several asides illustrate, but what the picker imbues a single note with must be heard to be believed. “
— Mark Tucker, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
“Jesse McReynolds has, for many years, been one of the foremost innovators in Bluegrass music, with his unique ‘cross-picking’ mandolin style. Jesse’s music has always been a model of unsurpassed technical excellence, good taste, and most importantly, genuine artistic creativity. Jesse, in short, is a musician’s musician . . . there is no better mandolin player, and no finer gentleman.”
— Bill Vernon, Muleskinner News
“[he] can range from Bluegrass to Country to Pop to Latin-American music and he has total mastery of his instrument. Whatever a person’s musical taste may be, they’ll be impressed by the things Jesse McReynolds can do with a mandolin.”
–Hal Bruno, Washington Political Correspondent, ABC, CNN