Jethro's Tone on Back to Back

[djweiss]

I can't stop listening to Back to Back...Jethro and Tiny sound *great* together.

I have most of Jethro's other albums, and the tone of his mandolin sounds, to me, to be much better on Back to Back...I'm wondering why. Grisman's production? Better recording technology? Different mandolin?

Any thoughts or knowledge?

Back to listening for me,
Darren

[barney 59]

Better recording I think. I had an experience once with how it worked in Nashville back then-- 1972. A producer was given a really tight budget to put out a record, I think it was something like $5000 and on top of that was able to pretty much pocket anything that he could shave off the top, which I believe he did. RCA provided some pretty amazing sidemen (nearly all the Nashville Skyline lineup) but for myself and my friend who's album it was and new to all of this we were really rushed through,we were out of there in 5 days and the resulting recording was not all that great nor much of a reflection of what my friend could really do. It was o.k. for me,I was just along for the ride but it was nearly a career killer for my friend. They put him under contract and then did a crummy job. The records not that great so they didn't do much to promote him,it really sucked for him.
I've often thought that a lot of those Nashville recordings were a little casual. I have some Chet Atkins stuff that is downright scratchy and this from a guy who practically owned Nashville and could have whatever he wanted. These guys were so good that they could put out a record of all single takes and, who knows, maybe not any practice either,just shake hands, sit down and play. It's a generational thing I think--younger people (I'm including Grisman here) grew up listening to recordings that took months to do and lots and lots of money to produce (think Fleetwood Mac). While most of this kind of music doesn't get the kind of budget that a popular recording gets I think that the people these days that are producing it have higher standards and maybe better equipment. Grisman can get pretty fussy I would think, his own records are pretty well crafted.

[SternART]

These guys were so good that they could put out a record of all single takes and, who knows, maybe not any practice either,just shake hands, sit down and play.

That is exactly what this session was like.......those guys were all pros, they just went in and did it, finished early. The guy producing it, has a great ear, both knew how to record, and just as important, how to record mandolins. A lot of credit goes to David Grisman, for this classic recording.