Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered CD

Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered CD music All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. "Can't Let Go" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Williams's fans waited a long six years for this album, as Lucinda went through music business hassles and a revolving door of producers. The reward for their patience is an album full of rootsy, heartfelt observations that alternately rock and mourn. CAR WHEELS is full of songs about loss and longing, like "Metal Firecracker," "Drunken Angel" and "I Lost It," but even when she's bemoaning her own lack of happiness on the bluesy "Joy," she lets loose with so much passion that it seems inevitable she'll find her emotional center again. Produced largely by Steve Earle, CAR WHEELS is immersed in that late-'90s alt-country sound, full of slide guitar, accordion, dobro and other Americana touches. It's a tribute to Williams's unique artistic vision that she distinguishes herself from the No Depression crowd by virtue of her idiosyncratic songwriting. Full of lust, sadness and the occasional glimmer of hope, CAR WHEELS is one small step for Lucinda Williams and one giant leap for those tuned into her wavelength. Principally recorded at Room And Board Studio, Nashville, Tennessee. Personnel: Lucinda Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar, dobro); Lucinda Williams (guitar); Emmylou Harris, Jim Lauderdale (vocals); Buddy Miller (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Steve Earle (guitar, acoustic guitar, resonator guitar, harmonica); Gurf Morlix (guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, slide guitar); Charlie Sexton (guitar, electric guitar, dobro); Johnny Lee Schell (electric guitar, slide guitar, dobro); Bo Ramsey (electric guitar, slide guitar); Greg Leisz (12-string guitar, mandolin); Ray Kennedy (12-string guitar); Roy Bittan (accordion, organ); John Ciambotti (bass guitar); Donald Lindley (drums, percussion). Audio Mixers: Jim Scott ; Ray Kennedy; Rick Rubin. Recording information: Room And Board Studio, Nashville, TN; Rumbo Recorders, Canoga Park, CA. Photographers: Birney Imes; Alan Messer; Miller Williams. Personnel: Lucinda Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar, dobro); Buddy Miller (acoustic & electric guitars, mando guitar, background vocals); Steve Earle (acoustic & resonator guitars, harmonica, background vocals); Gurf Morlix (6 & 12 string electric guitars, electric & acoustic slide guitars, background vocals); Charlie Sexton (electric & slide guitars, dobro); Johnny Lee Schell (electric & slide guitars, dobro); Bo Ramsey (electric & slide guitars); Ray Kennedy, Greg Leisz (12 string electric guitar, mandolin); Richard "Hombre" Price (dobro); Roy Bittan (accordion, Hammond B-3 organ, organ); Michael Smotherman (Hammond B-3 organ); ...

Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered buy CD music Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder: Ricky Scaggs, Dennis Parker (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Paul Brewster (vocals, guitar); Bryan Sutton (guitar); Marc Pruett (banjo); Jerry Douglas (dobro); Stuart Duncan, Bobby Hicks (fiddle); Mark Fain (bass). BLUEGRASS RULES won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. "Get Up John" was nominated for a 1999 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance. In the liner notes to BLUEGRASS RULES, Ricky Skaggs claims that due to his contractual obligations as a commercial country music artist, he was unable to release an album of bluegrass music, the style dearest to his heart. Now on his own label Skaggs Family Records, Skaggs takes to pickin' and singin' with an enthusiasm born of years of waiting. His fine backing band, Kentucky Thunder, kicks things off with smokin' licks over a pell-mell pace in the Bill Monroe cover "Get Up John." The album follows with upbeat, traditional two and three chord tunes, such as "Think Of What You've Done," "Rank Strangers," and "Somehow Tonight," complete with infectious singalong choruses sweetened by high, tight harmonies. The instrumental jams, "Rawhide," and "Amanda Jewell," are particularly noteworthy, featuring superb fiddle, bango and guitar work, as well as Skaggs own mandolin playing. Nominated for a Grammy in 1999. Includes liner notes by Ricky Skaggs. Personnel: Ricky Skaggs (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Dennis Parker, Paul Brewster (vocals, guitar); Bryan Sutton (guitar); Jerry Douglas (dobro); Marc Purett, Marc Pruett (banjo); Stuart Duncan, Bobby Hicks (fiddle). Recording information: MCA Recording Studios; Seismic Sound; Sound Emporium, Nashville, TN; Woodland STudios. Photographers: Jim McGuire ; Alan Messer; Ricky Skaggs.

Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered songs Twenty-nine tracks drawn from the Dillards' first five albums (originally on Elektra), which are otherwise unavailable. The CD is assembled not in chronological order, but with musical coherence as the main determining factor, so tracks from different albums get juxtaposed together. From Back Porch Bluegrass we get five songs, including "Banjo in the Hollow" and "Dooley" (another version of which they performed with Andy Griffith on his TV show), while Pickin' and Fiddlin' is represented by the bracing "Hamilton County Breakdown" and "Sally Johnson." Live!!! Almost!!! gets six tracks, including the group's version of Dylan's "Walkin' Down the Line." There are five numbers (including the title track and the Beatles' "Yesterday") off of their 1970 release, Copperfields, and the legendary Wheatstraw Suite, from two years earlier, has nine songs, among them the group's loving covers of the Beatles' "I've Just Seen a Face" and Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe." ~ Bruce Eder Includes liner notes by Neil V. Rosenberg. The Dillards: Rodney Dilalrd (guitar); Buddy Emmons (pedal steel guitar); Rodney Dillard (dobro); Herb Pedersen (banjo); Dean Webb (mandolin); Jimmy Haskell (strings); Jimmy Bond, Mitch Jayne (acoustic bass); Joe Osborn (electric bass); Paul York, Earl Palmer , Jimmy Gordon, Toxey French (drums). Personnel: Doug Dillard (banjo). Personnel: Rodney Dillard (guitar, dobro, pedal steel guitar, vocals); Douglas Dillard (banjo, vocals); Herb Pedersen (guitar, banjo, vocals); Buddy Emmons (pedal steel guitar); Dean Webb (mandolin, vocals); Byron Berline (fiddle); Jimmy Haskell (strings); Jimmy Bond, Mitch Jayne, Joe Osborn (bass); Jimmy Gordon, Toxey French, Earl Palmer (drums); Paul York (drums, percussion). Producers: Jim Dickson, Rodney Dillard, Jimmy Hilton, John Boylan. Additional personnel: Byron Berline.

Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered album for sale Koch's reissue of AT CARNEGIE HALL! restores all 32 cuts from the original 1962 two-LP release. Recorded live at Carnegie Hall, New York, New York on December 8, 1962. Originally released on Columbia (8845). Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were big news at the height of the late '50s/early '60s folk revival. New York City was essentially ground zero for a mania that extended to all things musical and Southern. So something of a love-fest occurred when Flatt and Scruggs and their polished bluegrass band rolled into town on one December night in 1962 to play no less a venue than Carnegie Hall. There are screams from the crowd for "Martha White" (the theme song from the band's radio sponsor), and Scruggs has no choice but to encore the banjo showpiece "Flint Hill Special." To know what the Foggy Mountain Boys sounded like in their natural habitat, you'd have to go to transcripts of the band playing a school auditorium or radio hour somewhere south of the Jersey Turnpike. CARNEGIE HALL still gives you a taste of how Flatt and Scruggs put together a show before their original band disintegrated under the weight of the revival itself. As you might expect from a live recording of this era, the sound favors the top end. Vocals, fiddle, and banjo breaks come through best, especially as the band performs with only two microphones among its six performers. 1st U.S.Rel.Of Complete 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert Flatt & Scruggs: Lester Flatt (guitar); Earl Scruggs (banjo). Producers: Don Law, Frank Jones. Reissue producer: Dave Nives. Recording information: Carnegie Hall, New York, NY (12/08/1962). Additional personnel: Burkett H. "Buck" Graves, Billy E. Powers (guitar); Paul Warren (violin); English P. Tullock, Jr. (bass).

Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered CD music Many country music purists would say that all of Jimmie Rodgers' recordings are essential, and it's difficult to argue with their logic, particularly considering that the Singing Brakeman's recording career lasted six short years. But everyone has to start somewhere, and the 20-track THE ESSENTIAL JIMMIE RODGERS is the best possible single-disc beginning. These are the recordings that, along with the work of the Carter Family, defined country music for decades. Without tracks like "T For Texas (Blue Yodel No. 1)" and "Muleskinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8)," there would have been no Hank Williams, and conceivably, no Elvis. Yet these are not historical curios notable only for their musicological significance. Rodgers was a gifted singer (the famous "blue yodel" with which he decorated his songs is still a startling achievement) and much like the blues singers who recorded during the same period, was a master at recombining familiar lines and motifs into unique and personal songs. Start here, but don't be surprised if you start looking for more.

Essential Flatt & Scruggs: 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered buy CD music In what basically amounts to a reissue of 1992's similarly titled Complete Mercury Sessions, Universal's Complete Mercury Recordings has improved upon the original by putting the songs in chronological order and including terrific liner notes by folk historian Mary Katherine Aldin. While both Flatt & Scruggs releases include the early classics "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms," and "Salty Dog Blues," the extras on this release make it the one to own. ~ Zac Johnson Includes liner notes by Mary Katherine Aldin. Personnel: Curly Seckler (vocals, tenor, mandolin); Earl Scruggs (vocals, baritone, guitar, banjo); Lester Flatt, Mac Wiseman (vocals, guitar); Howard Watts (vocals); Jody Rainwater (guitar); Art Wooten (fiddle). Liner Note Author: Mary Katherine Aldin. Recording information: Cincinnati, OH (1948-1950); WROL Studio, Knoxville, TN (1948-1950). Personnel includes: Lester Flatt (vocals, guitar); Earl Scruggs (vocals, guitar, banjo); Howard Watts (vocals, bass); Mac Wiseman, Curly Seckler, Benny Sims (vocals); Art Wooten (fiddle).