watcha listenin to profcrispy?
much to wanda's chagrin, i seem to back to country, after having burned out almost entirely for years due to the "farm report." anyway, i've been revisiting my favorite bluegrass intensively: dude, there it is on the shelf. right now i've got on the immortal hot rize: featuring tim o'brien, of course, but also the bluesiest bluegrass guitar player ever, the late charles sawtelle. the live album below cooks, cooks, cooks: and so beautiful on gospel harmonies. from the same era, the johnson mountain boys: "blue diamond" is surely one of the best dozen bluegrass albums ever cut, and dudley connell's singing is paradigmatic. when i was a kid around dc, i saw the original seldom scene many times: my dad was a friend of the bass player's (tom grey's) dad. john duffey's high harmonies will always be my model and measure. they were all "newgrass" and shit: it's a tribute to their success that they now sound as trad as flatt and scruggs (almost). i downloaded "live at the cellar door" off itunes: those were gigs i saw, more or less, though it was always the red fox inn in bethesda. and that album was worn out at my house: my brothers adam and bob had it in continual rotation for years. ss nails, just nails "hail to the redskins." anyway obviously then you've got to throw on some country gentlemen. ok then you're in reactionary chic, and it's time for reno and smiley: i'd rather listen to them than flatt and scruggs, though no one is going to beat the stanley brothers. still don reno is my favorite banjo picker. then i'm climbing back to the present with the gorgeous IIIrd Tyme Out. check out something like "snow angel": a perfect jewel of american song. i'm still holding out for a name change to the "blank mountain boys": "iiird tyme out" is as perverse as any norwegian death metal band name.
i'm gonna maybe do a series of brief guides to this and that: see if you order off my links i get a slight amazon gift certificate, and my amazon expenses always exceed my budget.
