Biography

These 40 songs encapsulate the roots of bluegrass music. Taken together, they tell us about the musical traditions that bluegrass drew upon at its inception, and the traditions that sustain it to this day.

Sixty years ago, bluegrass music was born. All the elements that made up bluegrass music have been around for decades, if not centuries, but it wasn’t until the mid-1940s that they coalesced into the music first heard in the southeastern United States. Named for the bluegrass state of Kentucky, bluegrass music was rooted in Appalachian songs, themselves descended from the music that had crossed the Atlantic in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

On this 40 song “Essentials” collection, we hear the traditional side of bluegrass played by many legends such as Mac Wiseman, Reno & Smiley, Don Reno, Red Smiley, Hylo Brown, Bill Harrell, Earl Taylor, Mac Martin and more culled from the treasure trove of recorded masters produced over the past 50 years by Rural Rhythm Records.

Some say that the overwhelming success of the O Brother Where Are You? soundtrack album led to the most recent Bluegrass resurgence, but that’s simply not so. Bluegrass had been growing in popularity for many years as America went in search of its roots. Generations unborn at the time bluegrass originated in the 1940s have discovered that no music is more satisfying to hear or to play. It is, in many respects, all American music rolled into one.

CLASSIC TRACKS: (All Original Recordings from the 50’, 60’s & 70’s)

Remastered for this CD from the original master tapes by audiophile mastering engineer STEVE HOFFMAN

1.WORRIED MAN BLUES – EARL TAYLOR & JIM McCALL with The Stoney Mountain Boys
2.MOLLY AND TENBROOKS - DON RENO & BILL HARRELL & The Tennessee Cut-Ups
3.A BEAUTIFLE LIFE – RED SMILEY & The Bluegrass Cut-Ups
4.HANDSOME MOLLY – HYLO BROWN & The Timberliners
5.LEE HIGHWAY BLUES – MAC MARTIN & The Dixie Travelers
6.DON’T LET YOUR DEAL GO DOWN – JIM GREER & The Mac-O-Chee Valley Folks
7.HOME ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS - EARL TAYLOR & JIM McCALL with The Stoney Mountain Boys
8.PALLET ON THE FLOOR – J.E. MAINER & The Mountaineers
9.TAKE THIS HAMMER – RED SMILEY & The Bluegrass Cut-Ups
10.RAYMOND’S REPEATING BANJO (Dueling Banjos) – FROSTY MOUNTAIN BOYS with Raymond Fairchild
11.LITTLE PAL- DON RENO & BILL HARRELL & The Tennessee Cut-Ups
12.WILD BILL JONES- HYLO BROWN
13.MULE SKINNER BLUES – ERNIE & MACK with The Bluegrass Cut-Ups
14.WRECK OF THE OLD ’97 – MAC WISEMAN
15.FALSE HEATED LOVE – EARL TAYLOR & JIM McCALL with The Stoney Mountain Boys
16.THIS RAMBLER’S RAMBLIN’ – MAC MARTIN & The Dixie Travelers
17.GONNA LAY DOWN MY OLD GUITAR – JIM GREER & The Mac-O-Chee Valley Folks
18.900 MILES – RED SMILEY & The Bluegrass Cut-Ups
19.WEEPING WILLOW– HYLO BROWN & The Timberliners
20.WHISKEY BEFORE BREAKFAST – TATER TATE with RED SMILEY & The Bluegrass Cut-Ups
21.GHOST TRAIN – EARL TAYLOR & JIM McCALL with The Stoney Mountain Boys
22.FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW - DON RENO & BILL HARRELL & The Tennessee Cut-Ups
23.CUMBERLAND GAP – J.E. MAINER & The Mountaineers
24.WATERMELON ON THE VINE – JIM GREER & The Mac-O-Chee Valley Folks
25.DOUBLE EAGLE – LEE MOORE
26.I AM A PILGRIM – HYLO BROWN
27.LONESOME ROAD BLUES - EARL TAYLOR & JIM McCALL with The Stoney Mountain Boys
28.SOMEBODY TOUCHED ME - RED SMILEY & The Bluegrass Cut-Ups
29.SWINGIN’ A NINE POUND HAMMER - MAC MARTIN & The Dixie Travelers
30.FLOP EARED MULE – RAYMOND FAIRCHILD & The Maggie Valley Boys
31.POOR ELLEN SMITH - DON RENO & BILL HARRELL & The Tennessee Cut-Ups
32.ROVIN’ GAMBLER- MAC WISEMAN
33.(Lost All My Money But A) TWO DOLLAR BILL - EARL TAYLOR & JIM McCALL with The Stoney Mountain Boys
34.SHORT LIFE OF TROUBLE- RED SMILEY & The Bluegrass Cut-Ups
35.MISSISSIPPI SAWYER-CURLY FOX
36.UNCLE PEN-LOG CABIN BOYS
37.LOST TO A STRANGER - FROSTY MOUNTAIN BOYS with Raymond Fairchild
38.DARLING COREY - EARL TAYLOR & JIM McCALL with The Stoney Mountain Boys
39.I"M COMING BACK BUT I DON’T KNOW WHEN – HYLO BROWN
40.SALT CREEK - RED SMILEY & The Bluegrass Cut-Ups