Red Allen and Frank Wakefield are indeed one of the great bluegrass duos ever. Their 1964 Folkways album "Bluegrass" is an excellent album and this can be found on pressed CD with bonus tracks at The Folkways Years, 1964-1983 - Smithsonian Folkways (For information on the original release with a CD-R and downloads available on just the original album tracks: Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and the Kentuckians - Smithsonian Folkways ) The original liner notes: https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW02408.pdf The pressed CD liner notes: https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/smithsonian_folkways/SFW40127.pdf
For me, Bill Monroe has still never been topped or even equaled. I love The Stanley Brothers, a little Jimmy Martin and some Jim & Jesse, but Bill's late 40s-early 50s recordings for Columbia and Decca blow everything else away in my opinion. Add to that the live recordings with Doc Watson and that's really all the bluegrass I ever need.
I do to a point and of course I like their work with Bill and the Bluegrass boys. I just find them highly overrated. Not as musicians; obviously they were extremely talented. I just mean the quality of their material and their presentation. I find Bill's stuff to be way more authentic and moving.
Picked this up in a charity shop yesterday, it's the 'best of' from a 4 cd box, nothing new but I noticed it was remastered by Vic Anesini so for a couple of quid I picked it up in the hope of a superior sound quality, is it better, not sure yet but it's of a very good standard.
What records (cds) do you recommend? I have the 4cd box set "The music of.." and live collections with Doc.
I like the early New Grass Revival albums. I also enjoy the Seldom Scene, the Old Train Album is a personal favorite. I’m a big fan of John Hartford, Vassar Clemons and Norman Blake. I was completely immersed in the 1970’s bluegrass revival period. I still Love a lot of the players that emerged from that era. You just can’t go wrong with David Grisman, Tony Rice or Bela Fleck. I play tenor sax and I always felt a strong connection between the improvisation in bluegrass and jazz.
You've got most of the great stuff, but I like the old 2CD Columbia box called The Essential Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys and I'd say the first Bear Family box 1950-1958 is essential too. If you don't have this Smithsonian/Folkways CD, I'd get it (it's kind of the companion to the Doc CD). Also, if you can find any Monroe Brothers CDs or The early RCA Bill Monroe stuff from the 30s/early 40s, that would be next.
Yeah, kind of like John Hartford himself in some ways--I don't know what most of it has to do with bluegrass, but it's really good.
This was a nice find last week, a 4 disc (+1 DVD) retrospective of Sugar Hill from 1978 to 2003, really first rate stuff and in a tidy box with a nice although small book, picked it up new and sealed for less than a tenner!
Thought this might be of interest to y'all... IMWAN • [2018-01-19] Doc Watson "Sittin' On Top Of The World: Live 3/64" (RockBeat)
My three latest bluegrass related acquisitions: Doc and Merle Watson - Never the same way once Davide Grisman and Tommy Emmanuel - Pickin' David Grisman and Tony Rice - Dawg and T All are outstanding. I'm especially taken by Dawg and T though. Those guys play stringed instruments together like they were born for it. Mixing tunes from Tone Poems, Dawg music, bluegrass, and jazz. Two instruments, from which pour a deep, rich vein of sonic soul, like it's borne from ancient wooden instruments that have been long aged like fine oak barrels seeped in a buttery red wine. Virtuosity and taste galore on all three of these.
I didn’t know that saw and T was an official release. I’ve had an audience recording and video for years. I’ll have to get to acoustic discs and look for a copy.
It's quite well recorded, Dennis. Very good sound quality for a 20 year old live recording. It's really interesting hearing only 2 of them play Dawg tunes made for 4-5 instruments as well. Plus, there are some truly sublime takes on a few classics, like Wildwood Flower, Tony's solo on Shenandoah, Devlin', and O Solo Mio, to mention just a few. Not a bad cut on the entire disc, and Grisman keeps the show moving with his usual wry comments. At one point he introduces Wildwood Flower as the quintessential Carter Family tune, then follows that with ...as played by the quintessential guitarist, Tony Rice. You can almost feel the modest Mr. Rice turning an embarrassed shade red on stage as he says this, then they proceed to tear it up.
Great, thanks! Gonna have to watch that. They say on the disc that there were 2 nights of the show, so will see if this contains everything from the disc or is from the other night too.