Compton Fans

[Frank Russell]

I'm trying to find some good CD's with Mike Compton playing mando on them. I've got a few, but my area is not a good place to find much bluegrass in stores. Can anyone recommend some of his recordings they really like? I am a big fan of his playing, especially some of the recent stuff. His intros always burn. I appreciate your input. Thanks, Frank.

[Darren]

They are not commercial releases but there are some excellent shows from the late 90's and early 00's available on Bluegrassbox.com with him with John Hartford.. Something about his playing with Hartford that just swings.

[John Flynn]

If you want hard-core bluegrass, check out "The Little Grasscals: Nashville's Superpickers" on the Naxos label. Mike just goes into "mando acrobatics" on that one and does some hellacious picking. Musically, it's almost too much, but it is interesting.

If you are open to his old-time stuff, which is on the other end of the spectrum, very subtle and in the background, Try Hartford's "The Speed of the Old Long Bow." Or you can try his wife's CD, "Trouble Come Knockin'" by Sadie Compton, a great fiddler in her own right. There is not a ton of mando content on it, but what there is, is very sweet.

[MDW]

I second the vote for "Little Grasscals" as awesome Mike Compton bluegrass mando work and a damn fine bluegrass CD overall.

For the old-time sound I like the subtle work he did throughout the recent Ralph Stanley release titled simply "Ralph Stanley" (the one produced by T-Bone Burnett). Simple, sparse, beautiful mando on almost every track.

[MWM]

Here's a few others. John Hartford's "Good Ol' Boys" CD has some great breaks - "Cross-Eyed Child" is a hottie. You'll find a couple others on "A Tribute to John Hartford - Live from Mountain Stage". Then the Nashville BG Band has a gospel album with some good Compton playing - "Gospel Plow" comes to mind. Don't forget the great stuff on the "Down from the Mountain" CD which is available as video too. FWIW - A week or two ago, Prairie Home Companion rebroadcast a previous show with the NBB and featuring Mike stomping out one of Monroe's stomps. It was good and might be on their website.

[Frank Russell]

Good suggestions, guys, and all easy to find on Amazon. Does anybody have the Butch Robins album Grounded, Centered, Focused that Mike plays on? I was looking at that, and some of the Grier/Compton stuff too. Any thoughts? Thanks, Frank

[tiltman]

The Grier/Compton stuff - "Climbing the Walls" - is great. I think I heard a rumor that he may put out something with David Long in the near future - they were a lot of fun to hear when they passed thru last winter.
Kirk

[Spruce]

If you can find recordings of any of the live shows that Grier/Compton did on their tour a couple ago (maybe on bluegrassbox?), they are definitly worth checking out.
In addition to the great music, the humor is pretty infectious too...

I love the sound of just guitar and mandolin going after it, and those recordings are some of the best done in that style....

[evanreilly]

That Evan Reilly guy did some work on a website for Mike and put together a then-current discography (http://world.std.com/~ereilly/discography.doc) of Mike's recordings.
My personal favorites are Mike's mandolin work on Tom Ewing's recordings.
The earliest NBB stuff is pretty good also.

[cb2859]

The Grier/Compton stuff - "Climbing the Walls" - is great. I think I heard a rumor that he may put out something with David Long in the near future - they were a lot of fun to hear when they passed thru last winter.
Kirk

Climbing the Walls is now on Spotify and YouTube. A great album. Grier and Compton's playing is superb.

[Josh Levine]

James King - Lonesome and then Some

And this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs0dbV6rDmo