Customer Reviews

Long Journey Home

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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I only recently obtained this album, but am a long-time fan of Clarence White. This album has some priceless cuts with Clarence and Doc Watson playing together, as well as Bill Keith joining in on several songs. I was a little disappointed that the mixing was not the best- you can tell on some of the songs that Clarence's guitar was not miked adequately. In addition (speaking as a Clarence White fan), many of the songs don't feature guitar breaks, although the six songs with Doc Watson do much to allay your appetite for hot guitar.

I was stuck in a rut musically. It was 1995 and I was only listening to the Grateful Dead. Anyway, I bought this disc on a whim. Within three months I was playing mandolin and wondering how I got by never having heard the notes on this album. The fact is, you get Bill Keith, Doc Watson, Clarence White, Roland White, the rest of the Kentucky Colonels. You get great liner notes. You get great instrumentals and great gospel harmonies. You'll freak. Buy this disc.

The much-vaunted Colonels, playing live at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Plenty of great old tunes and much earnest re-creation of the classic "high lonesome" sound. To be honest, I've often found their reputation outweighs their recorded legacy... Although I understand the band's importance to their generation of pre-hippie pickers, I can never help but notice the rough spots in their picking (particularly in Clarence White's guitar work) and, at times, the callowness in their vocals. Still, they were a lively and enthusiastic band, and this disc captures them at their best. Roland White's mandolin work is mighty purty, especially when he gets in a groove with Bill Keith's amazing banjo pickin'. Plus, Doc Watson shows up to play along and encourage the lads, midway through their show, and that's always a treat. Definitely worth checking out.