Music » Bluegrass Music

No Description Available.
Genre: Bluegrass
Media Format: Compact Disk
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Release Date: 8-JUL-1997

After waxing their seminal Rich-R-Tone and Columbia recordings from 1947 to 1952, Carter and Ralph Stanley actually broke up their band; Carter even joined Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys for a short stretch while Ralph recuperated from a car accident. By 1953, they were back recording for Mercury and for the most part continuing to fuse the raw mountain music they grew up on with Monroe's more progressive propulsive style--although the duo does branch out a bit stylistically across these 48 tracks. Still, when it comes to two-part bluegrass harmonies, the Stanleys were without question the pair to beat: The blend of Carter's rich, warm voice with Ralph's crude, coarse moans stands as one of bluegrass's most distinctive sounds. Whether singing about the home folks (both living and deceased), the Lord, or the lover (both faithful and not), the Stanleys imparted a blunt, emotionally honest, soul-baring intensity. Along with the Rich-R-Tone and Columbia sets, this record is an essential collection of not only the Stanley Brothers' work, but of bluegrass in general. --Marc Greilsamer

No Description Available.
Genre: Country & Western
Media Format: Compact Disk
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Release Date: 30-MAR-1989

Bill Frisell is a gentle giant of modern guitar, pure in his jazz-influenced mission to uncover and reinvent American music across a disparate styles. At once unmistakable for the fluid, elastic sound of his instrument and restless in his pilgrimage across often widely varied sources, Frisell can find the lyrical gold beneath pop, rock, and classical sources--devling into Madonna, Aaron Copeland, and John Hiatt with equal success. Nashville finds Frisell exploring the kindred small group dynamics and string-bending aesthetics of country and bluegrass in the company of a shrewdly-chosen players including members of Alison Krauss' esteemed Union Station band, virtuoso dobro player Jerry Douglas, and vocalist Robin Holcomb, who confers an earthy beauty to the set's three vocals culled from Neil Young ("One of These Days"), Hazel Dickens ("Will Jesus Wash the Bloodstains from Your Hands"), and Skeeter Davis's country crossover, "The End of the World." Keening lyricism, soul-deep emotions, and the kinship of wonderful musicians communicating across putative stylistic borders make Nashville a stunning achievement. --Sam Sutherland

Generally regarded as, along with Mary Black, the finest Irish singer going, O'Connell got her start in Ireland's thriving acoustic music circuit, though she has never been a traditional vocalist. Her voice is neither showy nor subtle, but it exudes warmth, generosity, and quiet strength. She's an interpreter, not a writer, someone who looks with an eye for the poetic, and generally finds just the right songs: "Summerfly" is a Cheryl Wheeler classic, "Trouble in the Fields" is an early, tough Nanci Griffith narrative, and "Western Highway" sounds like classic Americana. --Roy Francis Kasten

Release Date: 2003-04-22, Audio CD, Koch Records

Bela Fleck has completely transcended any and all expectations we have for the banjo. Having spent the better part of five previous years exploring a variety of formal and improvised designs with his virtuoso ensemble, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, this banjo innovator chose to celebrate a variety of musical friends and influences on this homey, elegant, immaculately recorded aural novella--one that clearly links him to such progressive jazz/fusion forebears as Return to Forever and Oregon (not to mention Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys). While a manic hoe-down like "Cheeseballs in Cowtown" illustrates his command of post-modern bluegrass, his freeform duet "Bicyclops" (with mentor Chick Corea) is indicative of this great musician's astonishing technical and emotional range. Elsewhere tunes such as "Up and Running," "The Great Circle Route," and "System Seven" seem to reconcile his complex rhythmic inclinations with stately folkish themes, mixing traditional bluegrass instrumentation with the likes of electric bass, drums, piano, and oboe. And on extended forms such as "Circus of Regrets" and "Jayme Lynn," Fleck showcases his ever-expanding breadth and range as a modern composer. --Chip Stern

Release Date: 1999-11-02, Audio CD, Mca Nashville

Release Date: 1994-06-07, Audio CD, Rounder / Umgd

No Description Available.
Genre: Bluegrass
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 19-SEP-1995