Track Listing

1. Gospel Train - Larry Sparks
2. Every Time You Say Goodbye - Alison Krauss
3. Lonesome Moonlight Waltz - The Bluegrass Album Band
4. Matterhorn - The Country Gentlemen
5. Hills of Home - Hazel Dickens
6. Chicken Reel - Jim & Jesse And the Virginia Boys
7. Lonesome Wind Blues - Rhonda Vincent
8. Hello City Limits - Red Allen
9. My Better Years - The Johnson Mountain Boys
10. Shiloh - Emerson & Waldron
11. Rank Stranger - Tom T. Hall, Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys
12. Brighter Mansion - Longview
13. Nashville Blues - J.D. Crowe & the New South
14. Sweetheart, Darlin' of Mine - Claire Lynch
15. I've Waited as Long as I Can - Tony Rice
16. Crossfire - Béla Fleck
17. You'll Get No More of Me - Hazel Dickens
18. My Sweet Love Ain't Around - The McCoury Brothers
19. Can't Say Goodbye - IIIrd Tyme Out
20. Mama's Hand - Lynn Morris
21. I've Lived a Lot in My Time - Dry Branch Fire Squad

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9398 in Music
• Released on: 2001-03-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Customer Reviews

A wondeful introduction combining both new and old.
Rough Guide have come up trumps with this wonderful sampler of bluegrass music. Characterised by the banjo, fiddle and mandolin, bluegrass' roots lie in 1930s and in the combination of many European and native American folk styles such as Irish, jazz, blues, East European polka and gospel. The CD contains famous artists such as the amazing Alison Krauss and Union Station, represented here by their classic track "Every Time You Say Goodbye", and older pioneers such as the Country Gentlemen, featuring the banjo ace Bill Emerson. A commendable balance is struck between vocal and instrumental tracks, and between faster and slower tunes. Indeed, the variety of artists is testament to the multitude of styles that the genre enjoys. The scintillating pace of Emerson and Waldron's instrumental "Shiloh" sits comfortably with the bittersweet beauty of Hazel Dickens' voice on the ballad "Hills of Home", as does Red Allen's cheery "Chicken Reel" juxtapose neatly with the sad tale in Lynn Morris' "Mama's Hand", a beautiful, if not tear-jerking, retrospect on a young woman leaving home.

If you enjoyed the soundtrack to the hit film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", then this CD is a must for you. Approached with an open mind, the listener will find little disagreeable here. The raw beauty of this truly 'unplugged' experience, with its high-class playing and singing will surely not fail to delight any fan of folk and roots music. Let the sound of the Appalachians carry you away to a simpler, happier time!

The Rough Guide to Bluegrass
This is a fantastic introduction to Blue Grass music, you can almost imagine yourself in the hills in the US, the Cd was in the condition stated and the service was fantastic as it always is from Amazon.

If you only look at one Bluegrass album . .
I bought this album on a whim as I was fed up with "production values" and "sound effects".

I have always loved traditional music with acoustic instruments and tuneful voices and this album does not disappoint !

You can really hear the emotion in the voices - in particular the chorus in "Rank Stranger" - one of the guys sounds as if he just got his telegram from the Queen (in the UK Her Majesty sends telegrams to centenarians ) but still tuneful !

After hearing this I will be checking out the rest of the Rough Guide series to see what other gems they might have to offer