Jerry Garcia - Before The Dead (4 CD, 2018) [24-88]

 

In roughly three and half hours of live and studio recordings, captured in various ways at a variety of locales between 1961 and 1964, Before the Dead documents the late Jerry Garcia’s formative years as a musician. Overflowing with meticulous attention to detail in sound, text and graphics, this 4-CD set reveals how this iconic musician nurtured those attributes that eventually stood him in such good stead as titular leader of the Grateful Dead, the namesake of the Jerry Garcia Band and the catalyst for the many other collaborative efforts over the course of his thirty-plus year career.

Glen Campbell - The Capitol Albums Collection Volume 2 (11 CD, 2015/FLAC)

 

(1969) True Grit [Soundtrack]

(1969) Glen Campbell Live

(1970) Try a Little Kindness

(1970) Oh Happy Day

(1970) Norwood [Soundtrack]

(1970) The Glen Campbell Goodtime Album

(1971) The Last Time I Saw Her

(1972) Glen Travis Campbell

(1973) I Knew Jesus (Before He Was a Star)

(1973) I Remember Hank Williams

(1974) Houston (I'm Comin' to See You)

 

Warren Haynes - Ashes & Dust (Deluxe edition, 2015) [24-96

 

Thirty-five years in to his career, Warren Haynes returns home to the Appalachian mountains for "Ashes & Dust," a collaboration between the veteran jam-band guitarist and vocalist and the adventurous acoustic band Railroad Earth. A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Haynes grew up in a center of bluegrass and mountain music. Yet he gained his reputation with his hard-charging, blues-rock band Gov't Mule; in a lengthy stint with the Allman Brothers Band; and occasional appearances with the Grateful Dead. Known for his beefy, adventurous solos, Haynes takes an earthier approach on "Ashes & Dust."


The collection includes a moody version "Coal Tattoo," the Billy Edd Wheeler classic on hard-working miners. Grace Potter duets with Haynes on a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Woman," which is both ethereal and muscular. Haynes brings in former Allman Brothers cohorts Oteil Burbridge on bass and Marc Quinones on percussion for "Spots of Time," the album's most expansive, jam-scene tune. It's not a surprise since Haynes co-wrote it with Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. Haynes has long been known for fitting into a variety of ensembles. "Ashes & Dust" expands that reputation, revealing just how wide-ranging his talents are.

Greensky Bluegrass discography [2004-2019]

 

Greensky Bluegrass is a five-piece American bluegrass/Country band founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan in Mid-2000. The band has evolved over the years, growing from 3 to 5 members, adding electric effects and touring with a full light show. "The whole notion of “traditional bluegrass” strangely remains a sticking point for plenty of the genre's faithful. Partly because of their name, every article written about the band addresses the fact that what Greensky does is “not quite” bluegrass. These depths have been plumbed. In fact, in their own promotional material, GSBG describes their sound as “their own version of bluegrass music, mixing the acoustic stomp of a stringband with the rule-breaking spirit of rock & roll.”

Greensky Bluegrass is known for their improvisation, multiple set shows, and open audience recording policy (akin to Phish and The Grateful Dead) and have broken through to a multi genre fanbase covering songs from Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, John Hartford, Dawes, Phish, The Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Prince and more.

Greensky Bluegrass.2004 Less Than Supper

Greensky Bluegrass.2006 Tuesday Letter

Greensky Bluegrass.2008 Five Interstates

Greensky Bluegrass.2010 All Access Vol. 2

Greensky Bluegrass.2011 Handguns

Greensky Bluegrass.2014 If Sorrows Swim

Greensky Bluegrass.2016 Shouted, Written Down & Quoted

Greensky Bluegrass.2019 All for Money

Glen Campbell - The Capitol Albums Collection Volume 3 (11 CD, 2015/FLAC)

 

(1974) Reunion: The Songs of Jimmy Webb

(1975) Arkansas

(1975) Live in Japan

(1975) Rhinestone Cowboy

(1976) Bloodline

(1977) Live at the Royal Festival Hall

(1977) Southern Nights

(1978) Basic

(1979) Highwayman

(1980) Somethin' 'bout You Baby I Like

(1981) It's the World Gone Crazy

 

Glen Campbell - The Capitol Albums Collection Volume 1 (13 CD, 2015/FLAC)

 

(1962) Big Bluegrass Special

(1963) Too Late to Worry—Too Blue to Cry

(1964) The Astounding 12-String Guitar of Glen Campbell

(1965) The Big Bad Rock Guitar of Glen Campbell

(1967) Burning Bridges

(1967) Gentle on My Mind

(1967) By the Time I Get to Phoenix

(1968) Hey Little One

(1968) A New Place in the Sun

(1968) Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell

(1968) That Christmas Feeling

(1968) Wichita Lineman

(1969) Galveston

 

 

The Dillards discography [1963-1999]

 

The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, popularly known for their appearance as "The Darlings" on The Andy Griffith Show.


The Dillards originally consisted of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard (born March 6, 1937, Salem, Missouri - May 16, 2012) on banjo, Rodney Adean "Rod" Dillard (born May 18, 1942, Salem, Missouri) playing the guitar, and dobro, Roy 'Dean' Webb (born March 28, 1937, Independence, Missouri) on mandolin, and Mitchell Franklin "Mitch" Jayne (July 5, 1928, Hammond, Indiana – August 2, 2010) on double bass.

 

  

Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys - Castle Studio 1950-1951: Complete Sessions (5 CD, 2017/FLAC)

 

For devotees of Bill Monroe's music, the CD box sets issued by BEAR FAMILY beginning in 1989 were the answer to a listener's dream: having the bluegrass originator's complete recordings tastefully collected in boxes, with informative books included. What we now have is something even more dreamlike: all the familiar Monroe recordings for DECCA in 1950-51, featuring lead singers Jimmy Martin, Carter Stanley, and Edd Mayfield, presented next to - unbelievably - all the outtakes (none previously issued) of all the tracks. Among other things, this means multiple takes of "Raw Hide". For musicians and careful listeners who have studied that spectacular recording for years, it's as though a new set of Stone Tablets has been found. It also means the "tape blip" we've always tolerated in The First Whippoorwill is now corrected, as the previously issued take was from a faulty tape dub whereas the "new" 1951 version is from the original master. 

Ralph Stanley and Clinch Mountain Boys - 1971-1973 (4 CD, 1995/FLAC)

 

This four-CD set is a collection of the entire output of Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys during an astonishing three-year period in the early '70s. The albums collected here include the first appearance of Stanley's signature a cappella bluegrass-gospel, and feature the outstanding lead singing of the late Roy Lee Centers. The strong incarnation of the Clinch Mountain Boys features Curley Ray Cline on fiddle, Jack Cooke on bass, and Ricky Lee on lead guitar. Teenage Stanley disciples and future country stars Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs make their first recorded appearances here also, and Country Gentleman John Duffey stops by to max out the needles on the Stanley Brothers classic The Lonesome River. The band runs through straight bluegrass, gospel, old-time banjo songs, fiddle tunes, and Stanley Brothers classics, all with great confidence and style. Songs are pulled from multiple and diverse sources, including the Carter Family, old country, Bill Monroe, and even a beautiful Jesse Winchester song, "Brand New Tennessee Waltz." This set is for purists more than bluegrass neophytes, but no fan of Ralph Stanley or the Stanley Brothers should be without it. These albums broke new stylistic ground at a time when there was some concern whether Ralph Stanley could continue in the wake of Carter Stanley's death.

Bill Monroe - Blue Moon Of Kentucky 1936-1949 [6 CD, 2002]

 

This massive, 6 CD box set contains all of Bill Monroe's studio recordings through 1949. It contains 60 sides recorded by the Monroe Brothers for Bluebird between 1936 and 1938 and 57 sides recorded by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys for Victor and Columbia between 1940 and 1949 (8 sides recorded for Victor in 1940, 8 sides recorded for Victor in 1941, 9 sides recorded for Columbia in 1945, 12 sides recorded for Columbia in 1946, 16 sides recorded for Columbia in 1947, and 4 sides recorded for Columbia in 1949). This box set also contains 59 alternate takes of Columbia sides.

Recordings made in September of 1946 with Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Howard Watts (Cedric Rainwater) are generally considered to be the first bluegrass recordings. If one agrees with this start date they'll find here 80 bluegrass versions of 32 different songs and instrumentals (the instrumentals being "Blue Grass Breakdown" and "Blue Grass Stomp").

Sam Bush discography [1985-2016]

 

Charles Samuel "Sam" Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style. Officially designated "The Father of Newgrass" by Kentucky's legislature, this mandolin innovator wed bluegrass to jazz improvisation.

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - Flatt & Scruggs 1964-1969, plus (6 CD, 1995/FLAC)

 

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.

Jerry Garcia - The Garcia Discs Vol. 1 (8 CD)

 Fan-made 8 CD compilation. Selections are taken from The Grateful Dead, Reconstruction, Legion of Mary, JGB & Garcia/Grisman.

Alabama - Original Album Classics (5 CD, 2013/FLAC)

 

1980 - My Home's In Alabama 

1981 - Feels So Right 

1982 - Mountain Music 

1983 - The Closer You Get... 

1984 - Roll On 

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - Flatt & Scruggs 1959-1963 [5 CD, 1992]

 

The second of four box sets documenting the complete recordings of Flatt & Scruggs as a working band. These were Earl and Lester's prime years. They rode the crest of the folk boom, supplied the theme for 'The Beverly Hillbillies', and played Carnegie Hall. Through it all, their music remained remarkably pure and honest. The core of this set is six albums, all incredibly rare now: "Songs Of Glory", "Folk Songs Of Our Land", "Foggy Mountain Banjo", "Songs Of The Carter Family", "Hard Travelin'", "Carnegie Hall" and Gordon Terry's "Square Dance Party." Fans who have treasured the 'Carnegie Hall' album will be amazed by the 19 unissued songs we've uncovered from that date. There are also singles not reissued until now and previously unissued recordings.

Old And In The Way - Old And In The Way [1975/FLAC]

 

Old and in the Way is the self-titled first album by the bluegrass band Old and in the Way. It was recorded 8 October 1973 at the Boarding House in San Francisco by Owsley Stanley and Vickie Babcock utilizing eight microphones (four per channel) mixed live onto a stereo Nagra tape recorder. The caricature album cover was illustrated by Greg Irons. For many years it was the top selling bluegrass album of all time, until that title was taken by the soundtrack album for O Brother, Where Art Thou.

• Vassar Clements – fiddle
• Jerry Garcia – banjo, vocals
• David Grisman – mandolin, vocals
• John Kahn – acoustic bass
• Peter Rowan – guitar, vocals

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - 1948-59 [ 4 CD, 1991]

 

Lester Flatt, guitar, and Earl Scruggs, banjo, were two musicians who were probably predestined to play together. They learnt their trade as Bluegrass Boys with Bill Monroe, as so many artists did, eventually leaving Bill in 1948. And it is at this point where this 4 CD Bear Family Box Set picks them up. Originally signing for Mercury, CD 1 comprises their complete recordings for this label, which include famous tracks like Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Roll In My Sweet Babys Arms. The other three CDs deal with their early period on Columbia from late 1950 to 1959.

Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Tony Rice - The Pizza Tapes - Extra Large Edition [3 CD, 2000/FLAC]

 

The informal once-in-a lifetime jam session that brought guitar icons Jerry Garcia and Tony Rice together with their mandolin-picking host David Grisman was recorded in Dawg Studios on two successive evenings in February, 1993. The Pizza Tapes CD (2000) which included only part of that historical meeting soon became an acoustic classic and one of Acoustic Disc's most popular releases.

The newly released Extra Large 170-minute edition of this legendary session, includes the entire session with 16 previously unissued alternate takes in addition to the original master takes in their original sequence. This unique collection also features more of the personal repartee, which made the original release so endearing and insightful - the anatomy of this very special jam.

VA - Acoustic Disc: 100% Handmade Music Vol. 1-6 [1993-2002]

 

100% Handmade Music chronicles the eclectic new acoustic music genre, a blend of bluegrass, jazz, folk, blues, country, and whatever other traditional forms the musicians cross paths with, all tied together by virtuosic musicianship.

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones - Little Worlds [3 CD, 2003/FLAC]

Little Worlds is the tenth album by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, released in 2003. The album was released as a 3-disc set. Ten tracks from the set were also released on a single disc called Ten from Little Worlds.

The album contains several tracks that are hidden at the beginning and end of Disc One and at the end of Disc Three. These hidden tracks present a short and humorous story of two men, voiced by Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams and Michael McKean (as David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap), stuck in traffic and flipping through different radio stations. The songs they hear are songs from the album played in different styles and on different instruments. For example, the slow and soothing song "Poindexter" is featured but redone as a heavy metal song with each band member playing an instrument different from his ordinary one. The redone version is also complete with rhythmic screaming to which one of the men listening in the car makes the comment "I don't even know what they are saying."