John Flynn
Oct-05-2004, 7:19am
I bought these CDs just because of the titles. I am really passionate about old-time mandolin music, (Buckhannon, Curley, etc.) but there isn't a lot out there, so I thought these might be worth a try. I have nothing against bluegrass and I like a lot of it, but I am just not as interested in it as I am old-time.
My first reaction was: This isn't old-time. My second reaction was: It's not completely bluegrass either. It has no singing and there aren't really "breaks," there are just instruments carrying the melody. My third reaction was: I like it! It is kind of "Pre-bluegrass" to "Early Bluegrass." Volume 1 has some standards and some Gorman originals in the old style. Volume 2 is mostly some early and lesser known Bill Monroe tunes.
Gorman is a great mando player by either genre's standards. His interpretation of the music is more on bluegrass side, but I think he always keeps a bit of sincere old-time flavor in the way he plays, which I like. There are some really interesting tunes on both CDs, tunes that I would really like to learn. I highly recommend both CDs for people interested in either genre. I would welcome anyone else's comments about these CDs, or other CDs in the same vein.
NFI, but I think they can only be obtained here:
http://www.skipgorman.com/sg_order.cfm
My first reaction was: This isn't old-time. My second reaction was: It's not completely bluegrass either. It has no singing and there aren't really "breaks," there are just instruments carrying the melody. My third reaction was: I like it! It is kind of "Pre-bluegrass" to "Early Bluegrass." Volume 1 has some standards and some Gorman originals in the old style. Volume 2 is mostly some early and lesser known Bill Monroe tunes.
Gorman is a great mando player by either genre's standards. His interpretation of the music is more on bluegrass side, but I think he always keeps a bit of sincere old-time flavor in the way he plays, which I like. There are some really interesting tunes on both CDs, tunes that I would really like to learn. I highly recommend both CDs for people interested in either genre. I would welcome anyone else's comments about these CDs, or other CDs in the same vein.
NFI, but I think they can only be obtained here:
http://www.skipgorman.com/sg_order.cfm