Fans of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and the Grascals will be pleased to learn of new recordings by these two esteemed bluegrass bands. The rejoicing, however, may be muted by the reality that these are EP -- extended play -- discs, not full-length albums. Both bands are finding their way after running out their contracts with roots-music powerhouse Rounder Records. Lawson has signed with a relatively new bluegrass-focused label, and the Grascals, at least for this project, are on board with a Southern-based chain restaurant associated with the enduring Andy Griffith Show franchise.

Griffith's series, which flourished and passed on in the 1960s, survives in cable television's endless reruns and in fond memory of some country and bluegrass musicians. Viewing it now, the rest of us are likely to reflect that without the late Don Knotts' comic genius, its portrayal of life in the fictional (and apparently all-white) Mayberry, North Carolina, would have choked on its own sentimentality -- which is pretty much what happened after Knotts departed midway through. Another, less-noted virtue, however, was the regular presence of a real-life bluegrass band, the Dillards, who played a ridiculously slow-witted hillbilly family, the Darlings; their occasional musical interludes featured both Dillards originals and traditional material. Last year Rodney Dillard, the band's guitarist and occasional songwriter (co-composer of the fabulous "There is a Time" for one), released his own Mayberry-themed album. It's aptly titled I Wish Life was Like Mayberry.

Dance Til Your Stockings Are Hot & Ravelin' consists of five songs heard on the show, plus -- less interestingly -- an advertising jingle for the Grascals' corporate sponsor and a forgettable novelty tune. The five songs you want to hear more than once come first, for which consideration a tip of the hat to the band. The good stuff opens with the Dillards standard "Dooley," then proceeds to authentic Appalachian tunes "Boil Them Cabbage Down" and "Ol' Joe Clark," the country/bluegrass favorite "Stay All Night," and the venerable hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms."

All of these are offered up in winning fashion. Unfortunately, given the format, the pleasures -- while real enough -- are all too brief.

Drive Time has stirred mild controversy with its use of drums (played here by multi-instrumentalist Josh Swift), ordinarily scorned by bluegrass outfits. I doubt, however, that their inclusion will bother the average listener much; on the other hand, the album likely would have sounded just as good without them.

The prolific Lawson, who's released three dozen albums by now, is among the most revered performers on the scene. As those who know his work are aware, he divides his and Quicksilver's overall repertoire evenly between secular and sacred songs. Here, except for an exceptional arrangement of "Precious Memories" -- it really is like none other -- it's mostly what Doyle and boys do when they aren't praising the Lord, namely setting Nashville tunes to bluegrass arrangements. One song (the late Dan Seals's "Love on Arrival") is even a frisky celebration of the joy of sex, albeit not of the cheatin' kind. Still, proceedings open atypically with Paul Simon's "Gone at Last." If you hadn't heard it before, you wouldn't know it wasn't always a bluegrass song. It isn't coincidental, I'm sure, that Lawson & Quicksilver sing behind Simon ("Love is Eternal Sacred Light") on the latter's recent Concord release So Beautiful or So What.

Drive's seven cuts are all strong ones on all levels: song choices, performances, harmonies, arrangements. Given Lawson & Quicksilver's talent, professionalism and experience, this is entirely, if happily, predictable. But it does make one long for a full-length CD, extended by another five or six cuts. Next time, surely.