Customer Reviews

Going Up On The Mountain

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I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been waiting impatiently for this CD reissue, a compilation of two classic albums first released in the 1970s. It highlights Stecher's fine singing and playing; his creative melding of Appalachian, Irish, and East Indian musical traditions; and his selection of great material (e.g., "Wedding Dress," "Wild Bill Jones," and the definitive--and definitely spooky--"Oh the Wind and Rain"). Jody's more recent recordings with partner Kate Brislin are excellent in their own right; however, they rarely capture the quirky genius present in these early cuts. One can only hope that we'll soon see a reissue of "Rasa," Stecher's other great classic.

Jody Stecher played a huge part in my gravitation to bluegrass and old timey music. I have always held a high appreciation for old timey, folk, gospel, Celtic, and bluegrass music but from a distance. Some of my early exposure to what can be termed as roots music was the folk music explosion in the early 60s, a little exposure to The Dillards and Flatt & Scruggs in that same decade, the absolutely wonderful "Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark," and of course that groundbreaking album "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. On that last project I learned about Doc Watson, Vassar Clements, and Jimmy Martin. Who can forget the banter among Doc and other artists on that album. Also, I learned Vassar was from Kissimmee here in Florida.

In July of 2002 I found myself in Blowing Rock, NC looking for a music venue for that weekend. Lo and behold Doc Watson was appearing at a festival just 10 miles away in Sugar Grove. DocFest 'n Sugar Grove it was called. Having never seen Doc, I wanted to go there. He was everything I expected and more in concert. The surprise of the concert was a group people were buzzing about called The Kruger Brothers from Switzerland. My first thought was do they yodel? At the jam at the end of the night Doc told Jens Kruger not to play his banjo like he did in their set.

What I'm getting to is this. That was my first live exposure to roots music that has become my passion. Adding to that was the fact I was listening to "Going Up On The Mountain" as I took this journey of roots music enlightenment. Jody Stecher is one of the absolutely finest roots musicians alive. When he does folk he does it in a unique style unlike anyone else. His versions of "Going Up On The Mountain," "Turtle Dove," and "The Golden Vanity" are done in such a unique style that I have never heard before or since. They feel like they came from an isolated, yet undiscovered region of Appalachia. "Oh the Wind and Rain" is a classic Celtic style murder song with the chanting ditty repeated constantly throughout. It reminds me a lot of my favorite Celtic song of all time, "Cruel Sister" by The Pentangle. "Wild Bill Jones" and "Way Downtown" are as good bluegrass as you could hear from the finest bluegrass bands. "Black Waters" and "Paradise" by John Prine are the two best environmental songs ever sung. What's with "Leela?" Sounds like a drum circle song with incense and other smells wafting through the air along with the sitar and tabla.

If you want to embark on a roots journey and wish to be exposed to the absolute best of several roots genres, this is the cd to accompany you on that journey. You will not hear the like again.

Incredible beauty...The voices of the opening song are really sweet. The music of Jody is always tasteful and full of love !

first buy mr stecher's great great masterpiece "Oh The Wind and Rain," which is simply the best folk album ever recorded (in my humble opinion), then buy this fantastic disc, then buy everything else you can find with his name on it. the renderings this artist gives to folk ballads, hillbilly tunes, & instrumentals are the freshest, brightest and most heartfelt that i have heard in this genre of music. quite a bit of skill, too (to say the least). get the picture? not to be missed american music.

Although I am all together too young to have experienced Stecher's finest albums in my past, I was instantly drawn into the harmonic and fluid drive of Stecher and his compainions. Accoustic Disc certainly did fans of tradional American and world music a favor, not to mention the growing number of neophytes to these beautiful music forms. This disc features Stecher's masterful command of many forms of bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, Indian and American music forms with and with out the support of others. Fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, dobro, harmonium and a chorus of Indian instruments and vocals intertwine the selection of old and new songs. David Grisman's liner notes to this album mention that Stecher was once compared to Bill Monroe, both for tonality in voice and musicianship. This is certainly an bold but apt statement given the beutiful and rich music contained within this disc. I recently gave this cd as a gift to a friend who is playing and singing with an old time band in Kentucky. As we drove down I-75 and he listened to the first few tracks, he chuckeled to himself and said "this is how we are trying to sound" all the while wondering how this little gem escaped his musical education. Very highly recomended and a great place to start listning to Stecher's musical philosophy.