The Early Years (1958-1962)

New Lost City Ramblers

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 13, 1992)
• Original Release Date: April 3, 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B000001DHT
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #128,405 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The lively, good humored Ramblers introduced generations to old-time string band music and influenced artists as diverse as Doc Watson and the Holy Modal Rounders. This collection of 26 songs and instrumentals highlights the virtuosity and splendid variety of 12 Folkways albums recorded by the original group (John Cohen, Tom Paley, and Mike Seeger). "...amusing in spots, touching in others and captivating all the way through..." -- The Fresno Bee

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traditional Americana as it should be..., June 17, 2000

By	Jac Polsgrove (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews

Fans of the alt.country movement should go back to the roots to see where the folk-country scene came from. No one takes old-timey songs and updates them better than the New Lost City Ramblers did, unless you like the fun spin that the Holy Modal Rounders put on it. (Also VERY highly recommended, the newly compiled Holy Modal Rounders 1 and 2 on one CD.) Classic old-timey music fills this 70-minute collection of tunes culled from early New Lost City Ramblers albums. If you like a good smile, check out No Sales Tax on the Women. Any Deadheads out there will like Don't Let This Deal Go Down, which the Grateful Dead morphed into Deal. The digital audio restoration quality is top-notch and this collection is essential to anyone whose interests lie in folk or alt.country, or Americana as it's now being called. There's not a weak link on this collection, which captures everything from traditional ballads to Piedmont blues and everything in between. If you're like me, this collection will enchant you so much that you'll buy its sequel, "Out Standing in the Field," which culls music from 1962 to the mid-60s. Five stars, only because I can't give it more...

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start here, and get all the rambler's records, August 19, 2002

By	Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is a compilation of the New Lost City Ramblers after Tom Paley Left. I confess I am old enough to be used to feeling the world was divided between people who felt that the NLCR was no good after Paley left and those who were willing to accept New Commer Tracy Schwartz who probably going to take the NLCR out of Western Swing and into Rock and Roll or some other forms of modern foolishness. I wonder if there would have been such squacking if the Ramblers had obtain the services of the man they wanted to replace Paley with, Doc Watson!!!

I remember going down to a record store off Dupont Circle in DC on one afternoon in 1965 when I picked up the first post Paley Album "Gone to the Country." Boy were those bluegrass numbers, the Stanley's I'm just a Rovin' Rambler and Little Glass of Wine. But it wasn't just up tempo, on that CD was the marvelous, obvious medieval, and mysterious "Little Carpenter" and Mike Seeger's superb banjo picking on his friend Dock Bogg's tune "Down South Blues." And who can forget their swinging Wild and Western Hobo.

The Ramblers were off. I think they were more adventurous in the years coming. A few tunes that were Western Swing and several early bluegrass tunes, and some things like Seargeant John Q that were taken out of the electric Nashville Country Music. And Tracy who was a much better fiddler than Mike Seeger and who has become a great fiddler (and now even Tom Paley has become a great fiddler and one of the leading experts on old time fiddle, just today I was passing around the Net his last intervention on Fiddle-l) and took the band into Cajun music and backward into unaccompanied music, or great model accappella and banjo music.

So much variety. So much joy, so much dedication to the traditions, to the sounds that came from back porches, and parlors,. barbeques and barn raising, and yes stages in Movie Theaters, school houses and even that awful Ryman auditorium.

Today a lot of people who think they know something about old time music have forgotten that the Ramblers pretty much started it all. They present a much better survey of the music and the culture than do a lot of current bands that are more about cashing in on the contra dance industry than they are about reviving the music.

Get this, so you can get all the rest of their records, now availabe by order from Folkways.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Old Time Music!, December 1, 1999

By	"old_time_music_nut" (Loveland, CO) - See all my reviews

The New Lost City Ramblers have done an amazing job in recording their versions of classic old time music. They have a reverent respect for these old tunes but have certainly put their stamp on the styles and methods in which the songs have been played. If you've never owned any music from TNLCR, then this is a great place to start.