Best Of Bluegrass 1959-66 [Box set]

Newport Folk Festival | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

Manual [PDF]

• Audio CD (April 10, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1959
• Number of Discs: 3
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B00005AKJI
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,884 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. John Henry

2. Gathering Flowers from the Hillside [#]

3. Love and Wealth [#]

4. Orange Blossom Special [#]

5. The Prisoner Song [#]

6. How Mountain Girls Can Love

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Kansas City Railroad Blues [#]

2. Rabbit Soup [#]

3. Flint Hill Special [#]

4. Earl's Breakdown [#]

5. Why Did You Wander? [#]

6. Bury Me Beneath the Willow [#]

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Alabam'

2. Memphis, Tennesee

3. Air Mail Special on the Fly

4. Better Times A-Comin'

5. Bill Cheatham

6. The Grave in the Valley

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Although the college kids and liberal urbanites who flocked to the first Newport festivals may have romanticized bluegrass as traditional mountain music, at least they knew great pickers when they heard them. In the early '60s, most bluegrass artists were struggling to build a new audience in the wake of rock & roll and Nashville countrypolitan, and Newport gave them both a venue and a community. The Stanley Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, Hylo Brown, and especially Bill Monroe responded with a palpable energy and joy. These three discs document some uniformly excellent performances, many never released before, and even those familiar with the Lilly Brothers or Jim & Jesse McReynolds will treasure these rare, live, and exhilarating moments from a pivotal period in American music. --Roy Kasten

Product Description

During the late '50s and early '60s, the Newport Folk Festival was THE place to see folk, blues and country legends strut their stuff in front of a newly appreciative public, and this specially priced 3-CD set collects the best bluegrass performances by a host of big names, with 16 unreleased tracks! Includes Molly and Tenbrooks Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys; Man of Constant Sorrow Stanley Brothers & the Clinch Mountain Boys; Ballad of Jed Clampett Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys; Border Ride Jim & Jesse & the Virginia Boys, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bluegrass Heads North, May 4, 2001

By 

Dave Dennie (Manassas, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Of Bluegrass 1959-66 (Audio CD)

The Newport Folk Festivals were wonderfully eclectic in their definition of "folk', exposing music from the electric blues and folk-rock of Paul Butterfield and Bob Dylan to the high-lonesome acoustic sound of bluegrass, as documented on this first-rate collection. Newport, R.I. was not exactly home turf for bluegrass, but most of the all-time greats are here, performing at or near the peak of their powers, from Bill Monroe (long before the decline of his voice in later years), to the Stanley Brothers (not so long before Carter Stanley's alcohol-fuelled death), to Flatt and Scruggs (shortly before their artistic-philosophy-fuelled split-up: Earl wanted to plug in, Lester didn't). Come to think of it, this could be, serendiptitiously, the single best representation of the early giants of bluegrass. And Flatt and Scruggs even do their smash-hit, the "Beverly Hillbillies" T.V. theme song(!!) Very highly recommended.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very BEST of Bluegrass, July 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Best Of Bluegrass 1959-66 (Audio CD)

This three CD box does represent the best by several of the founders of Bluegrass, including its amazing Father - Bill Monroe. The well known Mr. Monroe, The Stanley Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs and Jim and Jesse are here at their best. The suprise may be the band of the Lilly Brothers, Don Stover and Tex Logan. The music they play here further documents that their music was in a league with these other wonderful early bands. The music of the Lilly Brothers is a hidden gem - as was the music of Monroe and these other now prominent bluegrass bands for too long. Hylo Brown and Hazel and Alice give performances worthy of the title - Best of Bluegrass too. In fact, all the music in this set is truly beautiful!

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice collection, but . .., June 24, 2007

By 

Duane C. (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best Of Bluegrass 1959-66 (Audio CD)

This is a really nice collection of great bluegrass, but what happened to the Doc Watson cuts that were on the 1963 Newport album? He was incredible even back then, and their exclusion here is noticeable.