Rural Rhythm Fiddle Collection: Best of 24 Bluegrass [Original recording remastered]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 31, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Rural Rhythm
• ASIN: B0002T2QGU
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,072 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sugar in the Courd

2. Black Mountain Rag

3. Grey Eagle

4. Snowflake Breakdown

5. Lost Indian

6. Mississippi Sawyer

7. Lee Highway Blues

8. Fire on the Mountain

9. Whiskey Before Breakfast

10. Old Clem

11. Old Joe Clark

12. Katy Hill

13. Billy in the Low Ground

14. Paddy on the Turnpike

15. Fast Travelin'

16. Snow Deer

17. Run Boy Run

18. Chinese Breakdown

19. Columbus Rag

20. Prosperity Special

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old style fiddle at it's best, November 15, 2009

By 

frmertd - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rural Rhythm Fiddle Collection: Best of 24 Bluegrass (Audio CD)

I own 100 bluegrass album and this one is one of the best. I have to warn you though, it is really a bunch of OLD STYLE fiddlin'. Every fiddler should get this to see how they used to fiddle. The sound quality isn't the greatest. If you want good sound quality bluegrass instrumental stuff, my favorite is Tony Rice Bluegrass Guitar Album or the Bryan Sutton albums.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A generous sampler of Rural Rhythm's rusticity, rootsy fiddle sounds, & historical value, January 2, 2007

By 

J. Ross "a-music_fan" (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rural Rhythm Fiddle Collection: Best of 24 Bluegrass (Audio CD)

With over 50 years in business, Rural Rhythm Records has built a catalog that connects many dots from past to present. Since its 1955 creation, Rural Rhythm has released hundreds of classic performances by many legendary bluegrass and old-time musicians such as J.E. Mainer, Don Reno, Red Smiley, Mac Wiseman, Vassar Clements, Hylo Brown, Bill Harrell, Jim Eanes, and many others. This album is part of that archival catalog. The label owes its Arcadia, California start to Uncle Jim O'Neal whose vision was to release the music of many top bluegrass and old-time musicians in the 1950-70s, seeking success where Starday had failed by producing records of limited appeal by lesser known, albeit talented, musicians. Early ads for records released by Uncle Jim O'Neal stated that the LPs sold for only $3.50 apiece. The self-professed "Little Cotton Picker," O'Neal also took an approach of releasing 20 songs on each 33 1/3 RPM album. These would have been great bargains in the mid-1960s when major label monaural records (with only about a dozen songs) were selling for $3.98 and stereophonic records were $4.98. The items still sold well, and Rural Rhythm Records thrived and flourished.

A sampler such as this CD will give you a taste of the large and varied Rural Rhythm musical archive. A few of the featured fiddlers: Buck Ryan, DeWayne Wear, Mutt Poston, Curly Fox, Vassar Clements, Tater Tate. They primarily play uptempo breakdowns, with a few blues and rags. Rural Rhythm didn't tap their extensive archive of waltzes that have been recorded over they years.

The label continues to demonstrate great business acumen in both issuing and reissuing traditional material to give it the attention and respect it deserves. Resurgence of interest in such material compels music fans with intellectual or fanatical streaks to dig deep into such archival material and seek it out. Songcarriers and musicologists would be particularly interested in this type of archival material.

Don't expect to hear any vocals ('cept maybe some calls), elaborate arrangements or the same level of clarion studio recording quality we hear today. Piano, drums, steel, and electric guitar would find their way into some of the Rural Rhythm mixes. Uncle Jim was striving for a commercial sound that sold records. Most of the cuts span about 2 minutes apiece. Just enjoy and relive a classic old-time fiddling sound of yesteryear. The strength of a sampler like this is its inherent rusticity, rootsy sounds, and historical value. If you're a traditional bluegrass fan, you're sure to discover artists for further exploration. Even after listening extensively to bluegrass for over four decades, my personal discovery was Mutt Poston & The Farm Hands. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)