Hot Rize kept up their career momentum with 1981’s Radio Boogie, maintaining the deft balance between traditional bluegrass sounds and forward-looking attitudes found on their debut release. This is a well-chosen mix of contemporary originals and traditional tunes laced with down-home wisdom and bittersweet nostalgia. Lightning-fast picking by mandolinist Tim O’Brien and banjo player Pete Wernick ignites tracks like “No Brakes” and “I Long for the Hills,” while “The Man in the Middle” and “The Sweetest Song I Sing” are enriched by the group’s sterling vocal harmonies. The title track veers into rockabilly, showing off yet another side of Hot Rize’s collective prowess.