NEW YORK (Columbia Records) - Whether they're grizzled veterans or youthful newcomers, bluegrass fans will be able to explore the full range of this rich musical style - from its oldest roots to its latest blossoms - through a single collection for the first time when Columbia Legacy releases Can't You Hear Me Callin';Bluegrass: 80 Years Of American
Music on
September 21, 2004.
With more than 100 selections on 4 discs, compiler Gregg Geller has assembled a portrait of bluegrass built around a solid core of indispensible songs, together with neglected regional favorites, historical antecedents and recordings that demonstrate the powerful hold the genre has exerted across the musical spectrum. Drawn from the vaults of Columbia Records (one of the first and most important labels to offer rural southern music to listeners in the 1920s) and other key bluegrass sources such as Mercury, RCA, Capitol and Rounder, Can't You Hear Me Callin' stands as a remarkable historical document. Yet it also offers hours of pure musical pleasure, trading strict chronological entries for a sequence that is as entertaining as it is informative.
At the center of the collection is a healthy dose of cuts from the music's first generation giants. Signature material from Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse, Jimmy Martin, Don Reno and the Osborne Brothers - all members of the International Bluegrass Music Association's Hall of Honor - accounts for almost half of the set. The rich vein of primary material includes such staples as "Blue Moon Of Kentucky," "Foggy Mountain Breakdown," and "I'm A Man Of Constant Sorrow," all presented in their original versions.
Here, too, are the roots of bluegrass, captured in rare recordings by early country stars like Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, whose songs such as "White House Blues" would be picked up by later generations of bluegrass musicians. Wisely, Geller includes contrasting versions of several songs, such as "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," recorded both by Poole and by Flatt & Scruggs, and "Uncle Pen," recorded by Bill Monroe and later by Ricky Skaggs, enabling listeners to understand - and enjoy - the ways in which these enduring songs have fed creativity while keeping the chain of tradition unbroken.
The influence of bluegrass on other musical forms can be heard here as well. The set explores the way in which bluegrass roots nourished the music of country-rock pioneers like the Byrds, classical musicians like Edgar Meyer and Joshua Bell, '80s era visionaries such as Skaggs and the O'Kanes, and contemporary country stars such as the Dixie Chicks and Patty Loveless. Current bluegrass favorites such as Rhonda Vincent and the Del McCoury Band make their appearances, too, demonstrating the music's ongoing vitality and sense of history.
From the energetic string band clamor of Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers to the sophisticated sounds of Alison Krauss & Union Station, Can't You Hear Me Callin' is a sweeping yet detailed musical document that will rest at the center of any bluegrass collection.
