I don't know squat about bluegrass, except that I suddenly find myself liking it (yes, banjo and all...), so I'm looking for some recommendations for bluegrass recordings.

I'm interested in hearing what you consider to be classic/must-have recordings as well as recommendations on some more modern stuff.

(Blistering dobro riffage is a plus, but not a requirement!)

I am very fond of everything that the Osborne Brother recorded in the 60's, which tends to have more of a country radio-friendly sound -- probably their best-known tunes is "Rocky Top" from 1967. I have several Bear Family sets of their stuff. Some true hardcore bluegrass fans have a love/hate relationship with these guys because their records are often loaded up with percussion, steel, and keyboards in the background. The best vocal trio harmonies ever recorded, IMHO.

Looking for Dobro? All the old Flatt & Scruggs records feature Uncle Josh Graves, while the Monroe and Stanley bands did not. Monroe featured the mandolin instead, and the Stanley Brothers had a lead guitar player (George Shuffler) on many of their records, instead of Dobro. All of the Seldom Scene recordings (70's and 80's) feature Mike Auldridge's Dobro playing.

What bluegrass CD's do I have in the truck right now, because they're personal favorites of mine?

Rhonda Vincent, "Back Home Again" and "The Storm Still Rages" (recent)

James King, "Lonesome and Then Some" (middle 90's)

Here Today, "Here Today" (Vince Gill, Herb Pedersen)(from about 1980)

The Kentucky Colonels, "Appalachian Swing" (Clarence White)(re-release from the 60's)(might be the best bluegrass instrmental album ever)

Del McCoury, "The Family" (recent)

The Good Old Boys, "Pistol Packin' Mama" (Chubby Wise, Don Reno, Frank Wakefield)(from the 70's produced by Jerry Garcia, one of my desert island albums for sure)

There are dozens of other great bands and albums too, very hard to narrow it down to a Top 10 list -- either current or all-time. I won't even try.

All the above mentioned groups in my opinion were a step above traditional bluegrass. Again, purchase your recordings that were made during the very early 1970s and everything the Country Gentlemen ever recorded.

Gary Lee

[This message was edited by Gary Lee Gimble on 31 July 2001 at 12:06 PM.]

You may be able to find it on CDNOW or AMAZON.
Some of the cuts are: Jimmy's Texas Blues by Jimmy Rodgers; Huckleberry Hornpipe by Byron Berline; Sweet Georgia Brown by Bernie, Pinkard, Casey, some originals,The Kiss Me Waltz by Bill Monroe, and an obscure great tune by Roger Mcguinn & J. Levy called Just a Season [last song on one side of the double
Byrds album, "Untitled"].

Some fantastic picking here. They start playing the melodies pretty straight up, but then they sort of "Tony Rice" it up a bit and really take off.

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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

These three would be my personal pick, but the others mentioned are good too.

Great stuff, from the accordian days in 1945,to the earliest Flatt & Scruggs sides through 1946-1947.

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Have a good 'un! JH U-12

I am probably going to get my head bashed in by the forum for saying it but I would HIGHLY recomend Leftover Salmon's "Nashville Sessions" to you and EVERYONE on the forum who does not considder "newgrass" a blasphenous word, as one of the best contemparary bluegrass CDs to date! The CD features blugrass band Leftover Salmon w/ guest atists: John Cowan, Sam Bush,Taj Mahal, Bela Flec, Lucinda Williams and Waylon Jennings!!! Check out the track called Breakin' Through. J.Cowan RIPS the Dobro up!! Please check this CD out. You wont regret it. Other forum members pleasse send me some feed back!

Brandon- bdroper@hotmail.com

At the moment there's a British label which has the first two Country Gazette albums (1972, 1973) on one CD. The label in BGO I believe, sorry I'm just too lazy to actually go digging through my stuff at the moment.
The previously mentioned Muleskinner set is another classic, there's the 1974 album and a 1973 live set by the group on Sierra Records. I don't have the live set, but as it's with David Grisman, Bill Keith, Clarence White, Richard Greene and Peter Rowan..well it has to be great. Plus the studio set was a fantastic buy.