Customer Reviews

First Time Live

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This CD is a fresh look at The Dillards. It is an exciting combination of raw musicianship and old- time wizardry. You hardly have time to take a breath before Mitch Jayne launches the group into another tune. I especially liked this CD because it showcases The Dillards at a time before their presentation was perfected, so it seems all the more real...a feeling of being there right in front of the stage. "First Time Live!" also includes some of the old-time classics which were undoubtedly some of the first tunes the Dillards learned; just like the rest of us who were grabbed by Bluegrass. When Mitch announces that they have alot more songs they'd like to play, but have to quit because the recording tape is about to run out, my only thought was, "It's too soon, I want more!"

Buy this CD!This is an incredible performance by an equally incredible group.They don't make bluegrass music like this anymore. Hip songs,lightning fast banjo playing,and great harmonizing.Hey....any group that sings songs about groundhogs,moonshiners,mountain folks,and dead dogs with such enjoyment and energy is worth checking out. .....and they were semi regulars on the Andy Griffith Show......enough said....

Summer 1962: In a scant few weeks, The Dillards would fall off the turnip truck in L.A. and, practically overnight, nab not only a major recording contract with Elektra Records but also a plum role on one of TV's then-hottest series ("The Andy Griffith Show," as if you didn't know). But first, they had to get their feet wet at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. The boys from Salem done good, in a debut so spine-tinglingly urgent, so raw and so real, that privileged first audience was picking the hay out of their ears for weeks.

Forty years later, it's your turn to be charmed and bedazzled.

Fit to bust with equal parts nervousness and Ozarkian gumption, The Dillards clearly felt Missouri's nickname ought to be the We'll Show You State. It's a veritable bluegrass blitzkrieg from start to finish as the boys pick like the very devil was in their drawers on frantic arrangements mastered on bassist Mitch Jayne's by now legendary back porch. If someone had throw water on them, The Dillards would've smoked like a house afire. They sure picked like one.

The highlights? Pick a song, any song. Some of my favorites are the transcendent "Banjo in the Hollow," "Cannonball Blues," "Old Man at the Mill" and "Old Blue," that saddest of dead dog songs, passionately sung by group baby Rodney Dillard, then all of twenty. Rodney's big, friendly voice was already on the way to becoming a national treasure. Listen for it leading the irresistible "groundHAWG" chorus on the song of the same name.

The Dillards would later become master showmen, so it's a real guilty pleasure to witness a clearly nervous Mitch fumbling through his song intros and Rodney having to stretch a note to way out yonder to cover for a left-out line in "Old Blue." Doug Dillard and Dean Webb, proving they really do have witchery in their fingers, if not their families, play at such breakneck speed on numbers like "Cripple Creek," "Katie Cline" and "Whitehouse Blues," they must have needed stitches afterwards.

Sure, their first time out The Dillards had a bad case of the jitters and it shows, but their unbridled joy in the music would not be denied. See for yourself.

There's a very entertaining booklet, too, with seldom seen photos and Mitch's insightful and funny commentary.

Incredible live recording of one of America's favorite bluegrass bands. The recording quality is as impressive as the boys' musical talents. Old Man at the Mill and Cannonball Blues are two of my favorites and Douglas burns up the place with his lightening fast performance of Banjo in the Hollow. A must for all Dillards' fans.

i own almost every album the dillards have released. this is my favorite album and is the latest released in 1999. dougs banjo deans mandoline mitches humor and bass rodneys singing and guitar skills are truly at their prime in this 16 track album. doug picks his banjo so fast in some songs it sounds like there is 2 banjo s playing. this album is hot raw and some hardcore bluegrass it never sounded so good.

Delightful every minute. I have always loved these guys--a little out of my regular neighborhood of listening, but every bit as essential as Bach, Beethoven, or Bartok. Or the Byrds. Wheatstraw Suite and Copperfields are my absolute core favorites-- The First Time Live! and The Dillards double package containing Back Porch Bluegrass and Live!!! Almost!!! are current necessities in this stresspool of a 21st century. Their clear and beautiful music and, most assuredly, their silliness and happy attitude can carry you away. In addition, you should listen to the Dillard & Clark albums on A&M. Different, but not distant. Sadly, time keeps moving too fast. Bright capsules like these can connect us to where we were--and are.

It took a while to find recordings of The Dillards. The combination CD that encompasses their first two albums, "Back Porch Bluegrass" and "Live!!! Almost!!!" is compiled of 28 songs that display the group's talent as musicians and entertainers. This includes their classic, "Dooley", a fast up-tempo song they performed on the Andy Griffith Show. It also has a solid version of "Buelin' Banjo" prior to the movie "Deliverance". The "Live Almost" section provides an excellent insight as to how entertaining they would be in a live venue. They have a great introduction story to their version of "Old Blue".