old time string bands w/ mandolin

[kudzugypsy]

anyone got any good recommendations for recordings of the "OLD old school" style of mandolin playing common in the 20's-40's where the mandolin doubles the melody line behind the singer. much like early monroe brothers, or blue sky boys.
thanks

[mingusb1]

Check out the Foghorn Stringband (Portland, OR). #They have 2 CD's recorded.

Not sure if the mando is doubling-up the singing melody a lot, but the songs do have great fiddle/mando (even banjo) melody double-ups much of the time. #And the band is great across the board.

Z

[mandroid]

Martin, bogen and armstrong.
'Louie Bluie'howard armstrong
and check out the " r.crumb & cheap suit seranaders " # 'bob'on mando-banjo often...
3lp's reduced to 2cd's
string bands, maybe a blue-black shade.
even if its white hippies.

[John Flynn]

These five fit your description as I understand it, and they are also five of my favorite CDs:

"Little River Stomp" by the Buckhannon Brothers
http://members.i4f.net/otmando@i4f.net/

"Laugh and Grow Fat" by the Ill-MO Boys
http://www.vigortonerecords.com

"Old-time Mandolin Music" by Clyde Curley and the Oxymorons
http://www.oldtimemusic.com/otrecdetail.asp?RecordID=20

"Old Style Mandolin" (Volumes 1 and 2) by Skip Gorman
http://www.skipgorman.com/sg_disc.cfm

[Jim M.]

Reeltime Travelers have a great mandolinist. They do old-time and original songs that sound really old time. I think Kenny Hall does that with the Sweet Mill String Band too.

[mandolooter]

I'll second "The Reeltime Travelers". Their mando player is one of my favorites and their banjo player is my favorite. Lot's of live shows available for free but buy their 2 CD's too and support the band!
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[John Rosett]

the original red clay ramblers with jim watson on mandolin.
even though i mostly play country swing and jazz, i think of the (70's) red clay ramblers as the greatest band of all time. jim plays some great mando on those albums.
john

[John Flynn]

mandorose:

What RCR CD would you recommend as the best one to start with, especially for mando content?

[Jim Garber]

Not strictly old time, tho there is plenty to go around plus a few other genres, I like Early Mandolin Classics, Volume 1 (http://rounder.com/index.php?id=album.php&catalog_id=5639). I don't think they ever put out a volume 2... too bad.

This is the old stuff from scratchy 78 rpm records.

Jim

[PhilGE]

The Volo Bogtrotters (http://members.tripod.com/~NailThatCatfish/volo.html) are not strictly an old-time mandolin band, but have plenty of mandolin and vocals. Lots of great suggestions in previous posts!

-Phil