New Norman/Nancy CD

[doanepoole]

I just noticed Norman and Nacny Blake have a new CD out called the Morning Glory Ramblers.

Anyone heard this and care to offer a review?

[John Flynn]

No, but I will bet it's great. I saw Norman and Nancy live on the Great High Mountain Tour and they were a pleasure to listen to. She did the mando playing on a white-faced A-3. She is no slouch on the mando, BTW.

I did hear the rumor that they have split up as a couple. It's easy to see why. Just look at Norm. That guy has got to be "chick magnet!" http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[CharlieKnuth]

Norman and Nancy did split up for a time, but they are now remarried and back playing music together. A good thing all around. The album is old timey songs. There isn't much of his fast picking, but it is a very enjoyable album.

[ira]

excuse the ignorance, but don't know these folks... what should i listen to if i wanted to get a real taste!

[John Flynn]

If you are interested mostly in mando work, get "Natasha's Waltz." The bonus is that Peter Ostrusko plays second mando on it. There is some of the best mando duets and trios you you will ever hear on that.

If you are interested in great folk/old-time music, some incredible guitar flatpicking and a couple of super mando tracks, there is a great CD that has two albums crammed onto one disk for 26 tunes in all, a great value. It is "The Fields of November/Old and New."

Both of the these are much more Norman than Nancy, but she does play on both CDs.

[doanepoole]

Ditto to Mando Johnny's recommendations.

Also: Norman Blake is more known to the general populous as one of the top flatpickers...probably most folks recognize him in the top-tier along with Doc Watson, the late-great Clarence White, and Tony Rice. All of them have very uniques styles. Norman Blake is also one of my favorite mandolin players, but he plays in an old-timey, distinctively non-Monroe style. Most albums, except Natasha's Waltz have about 1-3 mando songs on them.

When looking at his recordings, there seem to be two Norman Blakes: a young, machine-gun Blake (albums such as Whiskey Before Breakfast and Fields of November/Old and New), and an old-timey Blake (most Norman and Nancy albums, and new stuff like Far Away on a Georgia Farm).

I love it all. Hot-pickers may want to start with his early material. People who like more mellow, laid-back stuff might start with his more recent stuff.

There is a very good instructional video called "The Mandolin of Norman Blake". Highly recommended if you want some instruction on how to play an old-time style of mandolin. But you waon't get any Monroe licks off of it.

[Paul Kotapish]

I've been listening to and admiring Norman Blake's music about 35 years now. He's an essential artist for any old-time music collection. All of his albums are worthy, but I'd concur with the recommendations above for a good starting place. That double CD with Fields of November and Old and New is a particularly good entry point.

Here's a nice interview with Norman Blake by guitar wizard Scott Nygaard over at Acoustic Guitar magazine:

http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag82/CoverStory.shtml

[doanepoole]

Well, I got the CD, and it definitely grew on me. The selections and tone of the album are definitely of the Carter Family variety, and Norman Blake is a dynamo at Carter style playing, among many other things. The vocal harmonies are less natural on some songs than others, but it all grows on you nonetheless.

It has a real good version of All the Good Times are Past and Gone...Norman has a way of either finding strange verses to tunes or making them up himself, either way to good effect (I always liked the version of Salty Dog he recorded, heard him play it live, very bluesy and a nice change of pace to the more familar "Standing on the corner with the lowdown blues" bluegrass version). Also I really like the rendition of When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland, an old favorite of mine.

Certainly an album worth buying for a Blake fan, or a fan of Carter tunes. Every Norman Blake-involved album I've bought has ended up money well spent, and no exception here.

In the context of this conversation, for the sake of those unfamiliar with Norman Blake, related loosely to a long thread on the bluegrass board, and also somewhat strange to think about, is that Norman Blake was a key player in John Hartford's "Steamship Aeroplane" (I think???) album, which some hail as the first real "Newgrass" album, making Blake an active pioneer, even if it wasn't intentional, in a whole new bluegrass movement that survives some thirty years later.

He also had a lenghty association with Johnny Cash on record and on TV, and has recorded with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and countless others as or less famous in the mainstream. Also, closer to the mainstrteam, he is recorded on the first and foremost "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album, as well as the widely heralded "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" CD (if you ask the cynical side of me, Blake's tunes are probably among the select worth listening to more than twice on that CD).

I noted recently that Martin put out a Norman Blake OOO guitar, for the common-wealth sum of $10,000.

As I understand it, Norman Blake is a collector of vintage instruments with a respectable inventory, which once included what was to become Sam Bush's famed "Hoss".

[RobP]

I love Norman's playing and singing. I bought a collection of his older stuff, mostly guitar, but also the Down On a Georgia Farm CD. Really really nice songs. There is an especially good mandolin piecs on the Georgia CD called "The cat came back" that I work on off and on.

I also bought the homespun tape, and I have been working through it slowly. They have a nice easygoing instructional style. I find this old-time style of music is so energizing at the same time.

I may have to check out that new CD.

Cheers,

Rob

[Mike Buesseler]

Norman is the MAN, as far as I am concerned. Mandolin or guitar, it don't get any better than NB. Faster, maybe, but not better.