Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 09/11/1990
Run Time: 64:41
This compilation album reads like a who's-who of the progressive bluegrass/new acoustic music movement: pros like mandolinist
David Grisman, guitarist
Tony Rice, dobro player
Jerry Douglas and a pre-
Flecktones Bela Fleck are all represented, as well as the (very) young
Alison Krauss and many, many others.
Though most of the guns are big, some of the album's best moments come from artists who were relative unknowns at the time of its release:
the Whitstein Brothers offer a classic guitar-mandolin duo number in the pre-war style of
the Blue Sky Boys;
Krauss delivers two modern bluegrass gems in a voice as bright and pure as an icicle melting in the sun. The album's highlight, though, is the rendition of
"Old Home Place" by
J.D. Crowe and the New South. It's a chestnut, all right, but the combination of
Crowe's driving banjo and the ringing, bittersweet blend of
Tony Rice and
Ricky Skaggs' voices will make your hair stand on end every time you hear it. This album belongs on every bluegrass fan's desert island list.
~Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
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