5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fine Compilation Featuring Bluegrass Pioneers, December 12, 2004
This review is from: Legends of Bluegrass (Audio CD)
Of the many, many bluegrass compilations out there, this is one the better ones. Here are 20 tracks from 6 pioneers of bluegrass music: Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs; the Stanley Brothers, Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, and the Osborne Brothers. There are 4 tracks by Monroe, 4 by Martin, and 3 each by the others, spanning the years 1949 to 1969.
There is a good balance of material here; tragic tales, laments for the old home, heart songs, a train song, a truck driving song, incarceration songs, inspirational songs, and an instrumental. There is a nice 8 page booklet here with notes by Eddie Dean. Release years are given and song credits are listed, but musician information is missing.
I'm sorry that Don Reno & Red Smiley and that Jim & Jesse are not included in this collection. Too bad that Monroe's seminal work with Flatt & Scruggs is missing and that the Osborne Brothers' seminal work with Martin and then with Red Allen is missing. I would have liked to have seen a couple of the Stanley Brothers' spookier numbers from the 1940s. But overall this is a carefully prepared, thoughtful collection of essential bluegrass music.
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