100% Handmade Bluegrass

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 20, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Acoustic Disc
• ASIN: B00011V87M
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #601,837 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Each cut features plenty of raw energy, emotion and talent, January 20, 2004

By 

J. Ross "a-music_fan" (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 100% Handmade Bluegrass (Audio CD)

David Grisman's independent record label, Acoustic Disc, was formed in 1990 and has consistently released excellent acoustic music that spans a variety of genres from Brazilian choro to Bluegrass, Jazz to Jewish. To date, their catalog lists 56 releases. The label has put out compilations in the past (ACD Samplers Volumes 1-6) that feature two tracks each from each of their seven previous releases, along with some unreleased tracks. Their action-packed samplers are typically bargain-priced, and they serve as a great introduction to the many diverse albums available (and amazing artists) in their catalog, including their Grammy-nominated projects (Dawg 90, Bluegrass Reunion, Garcia-Grisman, Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza, and Retrograss).

What makes this latest sampler special is that it is genre-specific, in that it just features cuts from 12 of their bluegrass releases. There are two tracks each from the albums, Bluegrass Reunion (ACD4), David Grisman Quintet's DGQ 20 (ACD20), and Old & in the Gray (ACD51). There's one track each from Grisman and Rice's "Tone Poems" (ACD10), Red Allen and Frank Wakefield's "Kitchen Tapes" (ACD11), Old & in the Way's "That High Lonesome Sound" (ACD19) and "Breakdown" (ACD28) albums, Doc Watson and David Grisman's "Doc and Dawg" (ACD25), various artists' "Bluegrass Mandolin Extranvanganza" (ACD35), Jody Stecher's "Going Up On The Mountain" (ACD39), Charles Sawtelle's "Music from Ranch De Ville" (ACD44), and various artists' "Life of Sorrow" (ACD53). The sixteeneth track is a bonus, a previously unissued "How Mountain Girls Can Love" featuring Ralph Stanley, Ralph Stanley II, James Price, Jack Cook and Grisman.

If I had to pick some standout tracks on the sampler, I'd certainly go with "Is It Too Late Now?" featuring Red Allen and Herb Pedersen's duet on the Grammy-nominated Bluegrass Reunion album. "Love Please Come Home," from the same project, just doesn't seem to have the same punch. Other favorite tracks are Del McCoury singing the old Birch Monroe standard, "Cabin of Love," as well as the hotly picked instrumentals from DGQ 20 ("Telluride" and "Dawggy Mt.Breakdown"). However, if your own personal definition of bluegrass music requires that both a banjo and fiddle be present in the mix, then there are a few numbers that don't meet the criteria (Telluride, Dusty Miller, 'Tis Sweet to be Remembered, I Don't Want Your Mandolins Mister, and Angel Band).

Douglas Green's liner notes outline a brief history of bluegrass and state, "... the musicians are zealously proud of their tradition; it is their mission, no matter where their career takes them, to preserve as well as to create and innovate within the style." Acoustic Disc's "100% Handmade Bluegrass" sampler demonstrates the diversity that defines bluegrass. The common thread is that each cut features bluegrass' trademark standard -- plenty of raw energy, emotion and talent. Depending on which cuts move and thrill the most, you may want to pick up the entire albums that are tasted. I also look forward to Acoustic Disc's additional genre-specific collections that will focus on Latin, Swing and World music. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)