Ricky Skaggs-Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/615ERnOpyCL._SS500_.jpg -=Review=- by C. Eric Banister When Bill Monroe died in 1996, Ricky Skaggs felt a heavy burden to continue the tradition Monroe had started just over 50 years before. He soon returned from country to his roots performing only bluegrass, and his newest release is a fantastic effort to remind newer fans where it all began. Mining the original 28 sides cut by the band, that featured Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise and Howard Watts, Skaggs selected 12 songs ranging from the well-known "Bluegrass Breakdown" and "Little Cabin Home On The Hill" to lesser known gems like "Goin' Back To Old Kentucky" and "Toy Heart." For this tribute, Skaggs forgoes note-for-note re-creations and as is to be expected, Skaggs and his band do a masterful job of bringing these classics to life. He does pull in a couple of ex-Blue Grass Boys for help. Del McCoury lends his soaring tenor to "The Old Crossroad" and Earl Scruggs, the only surviving member of the original groundbreaking band picks his banjo on "Goin' Back To Old Kentucky." The album is a great album in and of itself, but it also serves as a great starting point for anyone interested in digging deeper into the bluegrass tradition. --------------------------------------------------------------- Artist...[ Ricky Skaggs And Kentucky Thunder Title....[ Honoring The Fathers of Bluegrass Genre....[ Bluegrass Year.....[ 2008 Encoder..[ LAME3.97 (-V2 --vbr-new) Bitrate..[ VBRkbps Quality..[ Joint-Stereo kHz......[ 44.1kHz Source...[ CDDA Date.....[ May-02-2008 Type.....[ Album Size.....[ 38,0 MB Lable....[ Skaggs Family Records Cat.Nr...[ n/a URL......[ www.skaggsfamilyrecords.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Nr. ARTIST/TRACK. Time. --------------------------------------------------------------- 01 goin back to old kentucky 03:05 02 when youre lonely 03:04 03 toy heart 03:32 04 its mighty dark to travel 03:06 05 mothers only sleeping 03:13 06 bluegrass breakdown 02:55 07 little cabin home on the hill 03:15 08 mansions for me 03:30 09 sweetheart you done me wrong 02:59 10 why did you wander 02:51 11 remember the cross 03:01 12 the old crossroad 02:52 ----- TOTAL: 37:23 min --------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Monroe had already recorded some sixty songs with his brother Charlie Monroe for BluebirdRCA Records in the late 1930s (as the Monroe Brothers), but while he was fronting his own group in the early '40s, he felt he wasn't quite getting the sound he was searching for in his head. Then in 1945 he added a singer and guitarist to his band named Lester Flatt, and later in that same year he added an extraordinary three-finger-styled banjo player named Earl Scruggs to the group, and suddenly that sound Monroe had been chasing was right there in front of him. Bluegrass. Rounded out by Chubby Wise and Howard Watts, this version of the Bluegrass Boys didn't get to record until almost a year later, but the rest, as they so often say, is history. This lovingly assembled album is Ricky Skaggs' attempt to pay homage to that amazing band and he leads his Kentucky Thunder ensemble through some of the songs that Monroe and company recorded in that first burst of sessions for Columbia Records. It's fitting that the only surviving member of that version of the Bluegrass Boys, the still astounding Earl Scruggs, is on hand here to help with the opening track, a fine version of "Goin' Back to Old Kentucky." Nothing replaces the original sides from 1946 and 1947, naturally, but these renditions, particularly on tracks like the lovely "When You're Lonely," the wise and cautionary "The Old Crossroad," and the blistering instrumental explosion of "Bluegrass Breakdown," gently and warmly remind just how innovative and fresh the Bluegrass Boys really were some sixty-plus years ago. They created the very template for bluegrass, and while modern players have stretched the boundaries a bit, bluegrass in the 21st century is still very much that long ago sound Monroe heard in his head.

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