[.ca] V1 Bluegrass Compact Disc

The best true bluegrass of the era!:
In the 1980s, just when everybody was starting to roll their eyes, throw up their hands, and declare that the too-perfect, newgrass scene had lost touch with its roots, guitarist Tony Rice organized this crackerjack ensemble, mysteriously known as the Bluegrass Album Band, and cranked out album after album of the good stuff. Banjo plunker J.D. Crowe, dobro whiz Jerry Douglas, fiddler Bobby Hicks, gospel bandleader doyle Lawson and bassist Todd Phillips were his cohorts, and their four albums rank as some of the best truegrass recordings of the decade, steeped in the lore of the elders. Gospel tunes with extraordinary vocal harmonies comingle with dazzling, lively picking, evoking Bill Monroe and all his followers, and showing quite clearly that the modern bluegrass crowd still has the goods. This CD reissue only samples from the BAB volumes 1-4; I strongly urge you to track down the original LPs, since a lot of great material has been left by the wayside... Also, it's lamentable that someone felt the need to "update" the band's otherwise-delightful name for the digital age, to the misleading "Bluegrass Compact Disc," which makes most folks assume this is some kind of compilation album. Note to Rounder: a CD with several songs on it can still be called an album; the origial name was way cooler. Anyway, this is a grrrreat collection, well worth tracking down and playing over and over again!

TERRIFIC traditional bluegrass - expertly done!:
The Bluegrass Album Band does a tremendous job of taking some of the best old, traditional bluegrass songs - and adds a modern smoothness that only improves on the best. I highly recommend this CD, and this band, to any bluegrass enthusiast.

Doesn't Get Any Better Than This:
This and the volume 2 CD in the series draw from the four LPs released in the early 1980s under the name "The Bluegrass Album", etc. The LPs and this CD represent a monumental accomplishment, in several respects. The repertoire on this CD ranges from Bill Monroe's classical instrumental "Cheyenne" to Jim Croce's originally non-bluegrass "Age", and there isn't a weak tune here. Everything is squarely in the bluegrass tradition established by Monroe and Scruggs, yet, more than fifty years after the phrase "bluegrass music" came into being, and more than twenty after these cuts were recorded, every one is fresh-sounding and stimulating. And while there's no shortage of star instrumentalists here (Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, and Jerry Douglas are certainly among the all-time greats), this is definitely a team effort; the ensemble playing is tight, and the harmonies are wonderful. This CD and the others in the series serve equally well as a wonderful introduction to bluegrass music at its best for a neophyte to the genre or as a roundup of bluegrass classics for the connoisseur.

• Blue Ridge Cabin Home
• I Believe in You Darling
• Hundred Years From Now
• On My Way Back to the Old Home
• Cora Is Gone
• Old Home Town
• Take Me in the Lifeboat
• Sitting Alone in the Moonlight
• Head Over Heels
• Ocean of Diamonds
• I'll Never Shed Another Tear
• Unfaithful One
• Is It Too Late Now
• Chalk Up Another One
• One Tear
• Cheyenne
• Christine's Tune (aka Devil in Disguise)
• Age
• Talk It All Over With Him
• Model Church