Bluegrass Master Class
March 29, 2009
Rebroadcast On: 04/05/2009
You’ll be surprised by what surfaces from seven decades of bluegrass history, including Wade Mainer’s 1941 prototype for “How Far To Little Rock,” Jerry & Sky’s “Sparkling Brown Eyes” from 1947, the Osborne Brothers’ only calypso song from 1963, a 1983 mandolin duet from Red Rector and Jethro Burns, and bluegrass versions of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “I Know a Little.” Hosted by Fred Bartenstien, produced with support from the International Bluegrass Music Museum.
Program: Bluegrass Master Class
Description
| The Walls Of Time: Sources Of Songs And Styles | ||||||
| Artist | Title | Label | Date | Comment | Time | |
| 1 | Kossoy Sisters [not on radio version] | Banks of the Ohio | Traditional | 1959 | 17 yr. old twins from NYC, EDarling | fragment |
| 2 | Haynie, Aubrey | Bill Cheatham | Sugar Hill | 2003 | f BBales, SBush, TRice, DTalbot | 3:03 |
| 3 | Red Headed Fiddlers | Cheat ‘Em | County (Brunswk) | 1929 | f (Dallas, TX) Red Steeley(f), Red Graham(b) | fragment |
| 4 | Delmore Brothers | Blue Railroad Train | Camden (Victor) | 1933 | (Delmore) | fragment |
| 5 | Rice, Tony | Blue Railroad Train | Rounder | 1978 | R Skaggs, JDouglas, SBush, TPhillips | 3:18 |
| 6 | Golden Gate Quartet | Travelin’ Shoes | Bluebird | 1938 | ac NYC | fragment |
| 7 | Mountain Heart | Travelin’ Shoes | Doobie Shea | 2001 | ac SGulley, BAbernathy, JVanCleve | 2:13 |
| 8 | Peterson, Oscar | (Back Home Again In) Indiana | Polygram | 1957 | (Chicago, live) (Hanley-McDonald) OP:Montreal ‘25 HbEllis(g) RBrown(bs) | fragment |
| 9 | Burns & Rector | Back Home In Indiana | Rebel | 1983 | m BPeacock, BWhite | 1:49 |
| 10 | Hamilton, George IV | Break My Mind | RCA | 1966 | (JDLoudermilk) | fragment |
| 11 | Emerson & Waldron | Break My Mind | Rebel | 1970 | M Auldridge BPoffinberger, EFerris, | 2:34 |
| 12 | Led Zeppelin | Stairway To Heaven | Atlantic | 1971 | (Page-Plant) | fragment |
| 13 | Parton, Dolly | Stairway To Heaven | Sugar Hill | 2002 | RKohrs, JMattingly, TEldredge, BTruitt | 6:31 |
| Dawn of the Bluegrass Era: 1936-1954 | ||||||
| Artist | Title | Label | Date | Comment | Time | |
| 1 | Monroe Brothers | On That Gospel Ship | Bear (BB) | 1937 | (Charlotte Hotel) | 2:40 |
| 2 | Mainer, Wade & Sons of the Mountaineers | Arkansas Traveler | Old Homestead | 1941 | (WWNC, Asheville) WMainer(b), TnyDotson(f), MartyLyles(an). intro /outro | 2:43 |
| 3 | Jerry & Sky (of Nashua, NH) | Sparkling Brown Eyes | Rounder (Sonora) | 1947 | (BCox) (NYC) Jerry Howorth(lv,y) & Schuyler Snow (hv) RJones(d) | 2:32 |
| 4 | Story, Carl | Why Don’t You Haul Off and Get Religion | Cattle (Mercury) | 1949 | (CBoone) qt off WRaney & LGlosson’s ’49 #1 | 2:30 |
| 5 | Flatt & Scruggs | I’ll Never Love Another | Mercury | 1949 | (LFlatt) BSims, CSeckler, HWatts | 3:03 |
| 6 | Shenandoah Valley Trio | Let Me Rest At the End of My Journey | Rounder (Columbia | 1950 | (BurchMonroe) JPrice(lv), JMartin(bav), RTaylor(tv,f), st, ENewton. BM on Decca | 2:50 |
| 7 | Stanley Brothers | Memories of Mother | Bear (Mercury) | 1953 | (CS) LChance, JWilliams, JMeadows | 2:24 |
| 8 | Osborne, Sonny | When the Golden Leaves Begin To Fall | Gateway | 1953 | (BM’50) BOsborne(lv), BThomas | 3:08 |
| 9 | Reno & Smiley | Charlotte Breakdown | King | 1954 | b SHobbs, MMagaha, JLunsford, JPalmer | 2:19 |
| 10 | Lonesome Pine Fiddlers | A New Set of Rules | Bear (RCA) | 1954 | (TLeMay) MGoins(v), RGoins, JCarson, E&CRCline | 1:42 |
| Starving Out: 1955-1964 | ||||||
| Artist | Title | Label | Date | Comment | Time | |
| 1 | Jim & Jesse | I’ll See You Tonight (In My Dreams) | Bear (Capitol) | 1955 | (AceDinning) unissued GFrance, TVaden, LSandy | 2:28 |
| 2 | Osborne Brothers | Lovey Told Me Goodbye | Bear (MGM) | 1963 | (B&FBryant) calypso Sonny(lv), BBirchfield, GMartin, REdenton, WAckerman, FBryant & SDenning(hv) | 2:24 |
| 3 | York, Rusty | Roving Gambler | King | 1958 | (JSkinner) rockabilly | 2:02 |
| 4 | Wiseman, Mac | The Baggage Coach Ahead | Bear (Dot) | 1959 | (Gussie Davis w&m, 1896) CAtkins, REdenton, JZinkan, MPalmer, Jordanaires | 2:34 |
| 5 | Cooper, Wilma Lee & Stoney | Wabash Cannonball | Radio Gems | 1958 | (live radio) WLC(intro&lv), SC(outro), JElrod(b), GMcCormick(bs) intro | 2:26 |
| 6 | Pike, Pete | Knoxville Girl | Rebel | 1960 | JDuffey(dv) | 3:43 |
| 7 | Country Gentlemen | If That’s the Way You Feel | Starday | 1961 | (unrlsd, also SB’57) (CS& Peggy/MrsRS) JDuffey(lv), EAdcock, CWaller, TGray, KHaddock | 2:40 |
| 8 | Weissberg, Eric | Eight More Miles to Louisville (from “New Dimensions in Banjo & BG”) | Warner (Elektra) | 1963 | b MBrickman(1g), CWhite(2g) | 2:00 |
| 9 | Charles River Valley Boys | On the Jericho Road | Prestige | 1964 | JVal, BSiggins, FRichmond, JCooke | 2:37 |
| 10 | Monroe, Bill | Big Mon | Bear (Decca) | 1958 | (BM) BHicks, JCooke, RLPennington, BMauldin | 2:14 |
| The Festival Era: 1965-1982 | ||||||
| Artist | Title | Label | Date | Comment | Time | |
| 1 | Stanley, Ralph | Let’s Go to the Fair | King | 1969 | CRCline, LSparks | 1:47 |
| 2 | Seldom Scene | Paradise (from “Act 2”) | Rebel | 1973 | (JPrine) | 2:23 |
| 3 | Lewis Family | My Lord Is Taking Me Away | Starday | 1970 | 2:15 | |
| 4 | Dickens, Hazel | Pretty Bird (from “Hazel & Alice”) | Rounder | 1973 | ac (HD) | 3:40 |
| 5 | Baker, Kenny | Daley’s Reel | County | 1979 | f (from DonMesser, Can) BOsborne, WOsborne, CCollins, RDavis | 1:55 |
| 6 | Hot Rize (as Red Knuckles & Trailblazers) | Intro/Texas Hambone Blues/Wendell’s Fly Swatters | Flying Fish | 1982 | (LHGrange, Niwot, CO) Red, WMercantile, WaldoOtto, Slade | 4:20 |
| 7 | Eanes, Jim | I’ll Pretend It’s Raining | Rebel | 1978 | (JE) HSizemore(m,tv), RCline, TMartin, WGregory, JPalmer | 1:53 |
| 8 | Lost & Found | Harvest Time | Rebel | 1982 | (LEmerson+, fr GWatson) AMills, DYoung, GParker, BChandler, MAuldridge | 2:09 |
| 9 | Munde, Alan | Walkin’ Around (Fishers, Arkansas, HGibbes Hnpe) | Ridge Runner | 1980 | b RWhite, JCarr, MichAnderson | 3:33 |
| 1983-Now: Modern Roots | ||||||
| Artist | Title | Label | Date | Comment | Time | |
| 1 | Eldredge, Terry | Thinkin’ About You (from “All Night Gang”) | Rebel | 1991 | SThomas, JCampbell, Bub | 3:39 |
| (Sidemen) | ||||||
| 2 | Skaggs, Ricky | Think of What You’ve Done | Skaggs | 1997 | 2:37 | |
| 3 | Two High String Band | Sonny’s Ride (from “Insofarasmuch”) | Blue Corn | 2003 | m (Houston, TX) BBright(m), DGrisman(m), VClements(f), BrSmith(g), GeofUnion(g) | 3:31 |
| 4 | Vincent, Rhonda | When the Angels Sing | Rounder | 2001 | (RVincent+) RIckes, TAdams, BSutton, DVincent, AKrauss(hv) | 3:19 |
| 5 | Johnson Mountain Boys | Now Just Suppose (from “At the Old Schoolhouse”) | Rounder | 1988 | (Lucketts, VA) (DConnell) | 3:17 |
| 6 | Watson, Doc | Milk Cow Blues (from “Will the Circle Be Unbroken V.3) | Capitol | 2002 | RWatson, JGraves | 5:03 |
| 7 | Blue Highway | It Wasn’t You | Ceili | 1999 | (TStafford-DTyminski) SLane(v) | 2:58 |
| 8 | Martin, Benny | Lover of the Town | OMS | 1999 | (BM) TTHall(v), BWhite(p) EScruggs(b), JGraves(d) | 2:23 |
| The Walls Of Time To Come: Modern Branches | ||||||
| Artist | Title | Label | Date | Comment | Time | |
| 1 | Lonesome Standard Time | I Know A Little | CMH | 2004 | (SGaines) LCordle, DTal-bot, KGardner, BBeach ALeftwich, DPomeroy, JKeener, MHoward | 3:40 |
| 2 | White, Jeff | Tennessee Stud | RCA | 2002 | 3:08 | |
| (The Chieftains) | ||||||
| 3 | MacMaster, Natalie | The Silver Spear | Rounder | 2003 | f (LadO’Beirne/Trad) PAaberg(p), ABrown(b), MMrshall(m), BSutton(g), TPhillips(bs) | 4:16 |
| (Cape Breton Is., off NS) | ||||||
| 4 | Dillards | The Fields Have Turned Brown | Crystal Clear | 1979 | (CStanley) HPedersen RD DBounsall, JGilkinson, RPark, DWebb, PYork | |
| 5 | Mattea, Kathy | Untold Stories | PolyGram | 1987 | (TO’Brien) RFlacke, TOB(m,hv), BWhite | 3:00 |
| 6 | Hurst, Jim & Missy Raines | Automotive Breakdown | Pinecastle | 2003 | g (JH) | 2:08 |
| 7 | Grisman, David & Garcia, Jerry | Shady Grove (from “The Pizza Tapes”) | ACD | 1993 | TRice | 4:46 |
| 8 | Nashville Mandolin Ensemble | Arioso (from “Bach, Beatles, Bluegrass”) | Soundart | 2003 | m (Vanderbilt U) (JSBach) Baldassari(m), SDu-dash(m), WCarter(ma), JHedgecoth(mo), VMan-akas (g) DSpicher(bs) | 3:02 |
