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Classic Bluegrass From Smithsonian Folkways | 
 enlarge | Artist: Various Artists
Label: Smithsonian Folkways
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $10.99
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 35638
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 40092
UPC: 093074009222
EAN: 0093074009222
ASIN: B000063NDJ
Release Date: April 23, 2002
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| Tracks:
| • | White House Blues - Earl Taylor and the Stoney Mountain Boys | | • | Our Last Goodbye - Johnson Mountain Boys | | • | When He Reached Down His Hand for Me - Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys | | • | Tiny Broken Heart - Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard | | • | New Camptown Races - Red Allen, Frank Wakefield, and the Kentuckians | | • | Suzanne - Harley Allen-Mike Lilly Band | | • | I Heard My Mother Call My Name in Prayer - Nashville Grass | | • | Teardrops in My Eyes - Friendly City Playboys | | • | Cumberland Gap - Snuffy Jenkins | | • | Live and Let Live - Red Allen and the Kentuckians | | • | The World is Waiting for the Sunrise - Roger Sprung and Doc Watson | | • | Hello City Limits - Hugh Moore | | • | (Legend of the) Brown Mountain Light - Country Gentlemen | | • | Lonesome Road Blues - Roni Stoneman | | • | The Train That Carried My Girl from Town - Doc Watson | | • | The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake - New Lost City Ramblers | | • | Little Birdie - Stanley Brothers | | • | Rabbit in a Log - Stanley Brothers | | • | Grey Eagle - David and Billie Ray Johnson | | • | Wayfaring Stranger - Cullen Gaylean and the Virginia Mountain Boys | | • | Billy in the Lowground - Lonesome Strangers | | • | The Rebel Girl - Hazel Dickens | | • | Train 45 - Smiley Hobbs | | • | 'Neath That Cold Grey Tomb of Stone - Lilly Brothers and Don Stover | | • | Get Up John - Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Originally known as a folk music label, Folkways, founded by Moses Asch in 1948 and now owned by the Smithsonian Institution, also released a number of fine bluegrass records over the years as folk revivalists became hip to the mountain style. This superb 25-track, 65-minute collection represents the best of the label's bluegrass offerings. Some of the musicians--Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, Doc Watson--are household names. Others are members of the genre's second generation: Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, Red Allen and Frank Wakefield, and the Country Gentlemen. Still others, including three-finger-style banjo pioneer Snuffy Jenkins and Nashville Grass singer Curly Seckler, are ripe for rediscovery. Most of the music on Classic Bluegrass is as traditional as it gets, but not all of it. If you think drums are relatively new to bluegrass, listen to the surprisingly jazzy "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise," recorded by Watson and banjoist Roger Sprung in 1963 for a years-ahead-of-its-time Folkways album titled Progressive Bluegrass and Other Instrumentals: Vol. 1. This set is full of such delights. --David Hill
Album Description
It all began in 1956 with the release of the historic Folkways album American Banjo: Three-Finger and Scruggs Style (SFW 40037), the first-ever full-length bluegrass LP. From that point on, Folkways Records was synonymous with great bluegrass music. Folkways founder Moses Asch released scores of bluegrass albums, and this collection comprises the cream of the crop from these recordings, including works from giants of the genre such as Red Allen & Frank Wakefield, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, the Stanley Brothers, and The Country Gentlemen. It serves as an outstanding introduction to the wealth of great bluegrass Smithsonian Folkways has to offer. Extensive notes, photos, 62 minutes. Compiled and annotated by Lee Michael Demsey and Jeff Place.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
So Good It's Over Too Soon April 12, 2008
CLASSIC BLUEGRASS was produced as part of the Smithsonian Institute's Folkways series, dedicated to preserving the best of the American folk music tradition. These recordings occurred at various times & under various conditions--and the professional quality of all are deserving of the Smithsonian's impeccable standards. In fact, all the tunes could have been recored at a top studio in Nashville just yesterday.
Bluegrass emerged as a fusion of western European folk music traditions, and in turn formed the source of Country & Western, and merged with Gospel & Cajun as well.
The highlights of the Bluegrass style feature hard driving guitar & banjo picking; precision vocal harmony & compositions that more often than not are based on Christian themes. Fortunately even the religious songs are so upbeat & jesty that they don't really sound "religious" at all.
All the bluegrass greats are included in this CD: Hazel Dickens, Bill Monroe, 2002 Grammy winners Harley Allen & Ralph Stanely, The Nashville Grass & many more. My personal favorite is Wayfaring Stranger performed by Cullen Gaylean & The Virginia Mountain Boys.
Anyone who enjoys ethnic/folk music should find CLASSIC BLUEGRASS to be a real treat.
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 Classic Bluegrass From Smithsonian Folkways June 2, 2007
Very good. I'm just getting to know bluegrass other than Flat & Scruggs from the "Beverly Hill Billies".
Great selections from a great catalog July 3, 2006
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
This anthology digs deep into the Smithsonian-Folkways catalog of bluegrass albums (1956-1992), with virtually each track representing a different group/performer. The Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, The Country Gentlemen, Doc Watson, Snuffy Jenkins, and Red Allen are all included, and they are just the best-known artists here. Highlights for me include OUR LAST GOODBYE by the Johnson Mountain Boys, THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE DREADFUL SNAKE by The New Lost City Ramblers, TRAIN 45 by Smiley Hobbs, and HELLO CITY LIMITS by Hugh Moore, not to mention sides by the list of performers mentioned earlier. What's truly amazing is the realization that this CD anthology is only the tip of the iceberg of S-F holdings, which I believe are all still available in their original form - scores of albums. Hardcore bluegrass fans know all about those albums; CDs such as this do a great service for those just learning about the music or the S-F catalog, or for those just wanting to dip their toes into the music. It's a solid CD filled with terrific bluegrass offerings, with a 30-page, fact-filled booklet included, all for a great price. Definitely worth acquiring.
Absolutely the best March 20, 2006
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I subscribe to a cable TV network who has a bluegrass music station. I noticed that all of the best songs (out of hundreds played on this network), the true "classics", were from this particular album, so I ordered it. If you want the best of the best, this is the one for you.
Classic April 8, 2004
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
The plethora of worthy collections riding on the coattails of O Brother, Where Art Thou? continues with Classic Bluegrass From Smithsonian Folkways, 25 tracks of serious bluegrass untarnished by rock, pop or other outside influences. Recorded between 1956 and 1992, it includes three numbers from what's purportedly the first bluegrass LP ever, Folkways' American Banjo: Three-Finger And Scruggs Style. Dashing mandolin runs by Earl Taylor (and his Stoney Mountain Boys) and bluegrass's patriarch Bill Monroe (with Peter Rowan) open and close this crisp disc while Ralph Stanley, singing with older brother Carter, offers clawhammer banjo picking.Many of the performers - Red Allen, Doc Watson and Hazel Dickens, for example - grew up with the music. The Harley Allen-Mike Lilly Band (Harley being Red's son) shows how the genre's trademark tight harmonies can turn smooth (in an Osborne Brothers style) rather than sharp, without sacrificing the essence of true bluegrass. The New Lost City Ramblers' "The Little Girl And The Dreadful Snake" as well as The Lilly Brothers And Don Stover's "'Neath That Cold Grey Tomb Of Stone" evoke mountain music's darkness, but then a wildfire fiddle breakdown such as David and Billy Ray Johnson's "Grey Eagle" comes along to show its fun side. It's a sumptuous buffett of bluegrass.
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