The final five years of the team of Flatt & Scruggs is documented on the six-CD Bear Family set 1964-1969, Plus. Their final six recordings together are on a Lester Flatt box set on the same label (Flatt on Victor Plus More, Bear Family 15975). Though the pair never referred to themselves as bluegrass musicians -- because of its association with their mentor, Bill Monroe -- they had a difficult time telling the ever-increasing flood of international fans just what it was they did. Certainly it was folk music, but not the folk music of the folk revival of the late '50s and early '60s, and it was country music, though not what Owen Bradley and Chet Atkins was pushing through Nashville at the time, and while a lot of the music was rooted in blues and gospel, it couldn't be called that either. Flatt & Scruggs were the progenitors of what later pioneers like Tony Trischka, Randy Scruggs, Béla Fleck, and others would call "newgrass" -- the pair wouldn't have liked that either. What this set documents is how the musical styles emerging in the 1960s were explored by Flatt & Scruggs, were turned inside out, were popularized, and put enough pressure on the duo, musically and professionally because of increased fame, to tear them apart. Here are the recordings of Waylon Jennings' "I'm a Man of Constant Sorrow" (before Ralph Stanley cut it), Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe," Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind," Chuck Berry's "Memphis," "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" done for the film Bonnie & Clyde, traditional songs like "Sally Goodin," Mel Tillis and Danny Dill's "Detroit City," Tom T. Hall's "I'm Gonna Ride That Steamboat," John Sebastian's "Nashville Cats," Doc and Merle Watson's "Southbound," and Flatt & Scruggs' amazing instrumental "Jazzing." But before the reader looks away in disgust, muttering "sellout," perhaps the music itself should be taken as an example of its own merit. Flatt & Scruggs stood outside of tradition from the beginning by breaking with standard vocal and instrumentation regimens. Using four-part harmonies, drums, and harmonica on a Dylan song, the duo were merely doing what they had done throughout their careers -- they explored the roots of a song and discovered where it took them. Recording Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Universal Soldier," Donovan's "Catch the Wind," Dylan's "Wanted Man" and "Like a Rolling Stone," the Hall songs for the Bonnie & Clyde soundtrack, and Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" were high-wire acts, cliff edges both men were looking over into an abyss that refused to stare back at them, and finally it separated them. But it was never for lack of an adventurous spirit of laziness or lack of respect. What is documented here may be the sound of disintegration, but it is also the sound of courage and preservation that brought the heart and soul of country music to popular music, not the other way around.
CD1
1. Petticoat Junction
2. Have You Seen My Dear Companion
3. The Good Things (Outweigh The Bad)
4. Working It Out
5. Amber Tresses (Tied In Blue)
6. Jimmie Brown, The Newsboy
7. When Papa Played The Dobro
8. Fireball (Instrumental)
9. Father's Table Grace
10. I'm Walking With Him
11. My Wandering Boy
12. Sally Don't You Grieve
13. A Faded Red Ribbon
14. Bumin' An Old Freight Train
15. Gerorgia Buck (Instrumental)
16. Hello Stranger
17. Please Don't Wake Me
18. You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
19. I Still Miss Someone
20. Wabash Cannonball
21. Rose Conelly
22. You've Been Fooling My Baby
23. Will You Be Lonesome Too?
24. Big Shoes To Fill
25. Branded Wherever I Go
26. Starlight On The Rails
27. Loafer's Glory
28. I'll Be On That Good Road Some Day
29. Confessing
30. Gonna Have Myself A Ball
CD2
1. Rock, Salt And Nails
2. The Soldier's Return
3. Memphis
4. Jackson
5. Colours
6. For Lovin' Me
7. Houston
8. Detroit City
9. Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Instrumental)
10. Kansas City
11. Nashville Blues (Instrumental)
12. Take Me Back To Tulsa
13. The Last Public Hanging In West Virginia
14. The Boys From Tennessee
15. Ten Miles From Natchez
16. Seattle Town
17. Green Acres
18. I Had A Dream
19. When The Saints Go Marching In
20. God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign
21. Call Me On Home, Too
22. A Stone That Builders Refused
23. Wait For The Sunshine
24. No Mother In This World
25. Thank God I'm On My Way
26. Troublesome Waters
27. The Last Thing On My Mind
28. Mama, You Been On My Mind
29. It Was Only The Wind
30. Why Can't I Find Myself With You
CD3
1. Southbound
2. I'm Gonna Ride That Steamboat
3. Roust-A-Bout
4. Nashville Cats
5. Train Number 1262
6. Bringin' In The Georgia Mail
7. Going Across The Sea
8. The Atlantic Coastal Line
9. East Bound Train
10. Orange Blossom Special (Instrumental)
11. Last Train To Clarksville
12. California Up Tight Band
13. Don't Think Twice It's All Right
14. Four Strong Winds
15. Blowin' In The Wind
16. It Ain't Me Babe
17. Down In The Flood
18. Buddy Don't You Roll So Slow
19. Where Have All The Flowers Gone
20. This Land Is Your Land
21. Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Instrumental)
22. Mr. Tambourine Man
23. Ode To Billie Joe
24. Like A Rolling Stone
25. I'd Like To Say A Word For Texas
26. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
27. Folsom Prison Blues
28. Gentle On My Mind
29. The Times They Are A-Changin'
CD4
1. If I Were A Carpenter
2. Universal Soldier
3. Long Road To Houston
4. Catch The Wind
5. Rainy Day Women 12 And 35
6. Frieda Florentine
7. Nashville Skyline Rag (Instrumental)
8. I Walk The Line
9. Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town
10. A Boy Named Sue
11. Maggie's Farm
12. Wanted Man
13. One More Night
14. One Too Many Mornings
15. Girl From The North Country
16. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance
17. Tonight Will Be Fine
18. The Story Of Bonnie And Clyde
19. Another Ride With Clyde
20. A Picture Of Bonnie
21. The Barrow Gang Will Get You Little Man
22. Bang You're Alive
23. See Bonnie Die, See Clyde Die
24. Reunion (Instrumental)
25. Get-Away (Instrumental)
26. The Chase (Instrumental)
27. Highway's End (Instrumental)
CD5
1. Pick Along (Instrumental)
2. John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man (Instrumental)
3. Jazzing (Instrumental)
4. Evelina (Instrumental)
5. Tammy's Song (Instrumental)
6. Lonesome Ruben (Instrumental)
7. Spanish Two Step (Instrumental)
8. Careless Love (Instrumental)
9. Liberty (Instrumental)
10. Bill Cheatham (Instrumental)
11. Nothin' To It (Instrumental)
12. Intro
13. Lost All My Money
14. Maggie Blues (Instrumental)
15. Steamboat Whistle Blues
16. Paul And Silas
17. Cannonball Blues (Instrumental)
18. You Are My Flower
19. Old Leather Britches (Instrumental)
20. Across The Blue Ridge Mountains
21. Old Folks (Instrumental)
22. Going Back To Harlan
23. Poor Rebel Soldier
24. No Hiding Place Down Here
25. Going Up Cripple Creek
26. Foggy Mountain Special
CD6
1. Bile Them Cabbage Down
2. Old Joe Clark
3. Sally Goodin
4. Black Mountain Rag
5. Billy In The Lowground
6. Twinkle Little Star
7. Old Fiddler
8. Soldier's Joy
9. Cheyenne
10. Down Yonder
11. Georgia Shuffle
12. Golden Slippers
13. Tennessee Wagner
14. Chicken Reel
15. Theme From Beverly Hillbillies
16. Beverly Hills
17. Vittles
18. A Long Talk With That Boy
19. Jethro's A Powerful Man
20. Elly's Spring Song
21. Back Home U.S.A
22. Critters
23. What A Great Doctor Granny Is
24. Lady Lessons
25. Birds And The Bees
26. Love Or Money
27. Close
