Audio: "Epilogue: A Tribute to John Duffey" by Akira Otsuka

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I'm proud to help announce this 15-year (!) project by my good friend Akira Otsuka!


Photo by Katy Daley

You can pre-order this Smithsonian Folkways CD from Amazon here: https://tinyurl.com/Epilogue-by-AkiraOtsuka-Amazon

I can't wait to get mine!

(Continued in next post...)

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(...continued from previous post)

On Amazon:
John Duffey's influence on bluegrass cannot be overstated. His contributions to legendary bands The Country Gentlemen and The Seldom Scene helped transform the genre from a regional Appalachian music to a sophisticated, urban sound, resulting in a legion of new fans the world over. On Epilogue, the bluegrass music community comes together to create a marvelously fitting tribute to “the father of modern bluegrass.” Sam Bush, John Cowan, Bela Fleck, Bruce Molsky, Tim O’Brien, Don Rigsby, and so many more—it’s a rare and special all-star cast. Their eagerness and passion to record the album attest to how profoundly Duffey impacted them and countless other musicians today.

There are 17 songs; and check out this incredible list of artists...

Country Gentlemen related people (Eddie and Martha Adcock, Jimmy Gaudreau, Bill Emerson, Tom Gray, Randy Waller, Jerry Douglas) and Scene related people (John Starling, Ben Eldridge, Mike Auldridge, Lou Reid, Phil Rosenthal, Fred Travers, Dudley Connell, Ronnie and Rickie Simpkins, Ron Stewart and Jonathan Edwards); Tony & Wyatt Rice, Jack Lawrence, Kenny & Amanda Smith, Nils Lofgren, Bruce Molsky, Todd Phillips, Jason Moore, Don Rigsby, Tim O'Brien, Dede Wyland, Steve Gully, David Grisman, Sam Bush, Adam Steffy, Wayne Benson, Bela Fleck...


Akira shared this background with me...

When I started playing mandolin in Japan in 1963, I was listening to Bill Monroe and other mandolin players but when I bought Country Gentlmen's first LP on Folkways, I was amazed with their music and I just loved it - of course it was John Duffey playing the mandolin.


In 1970, Dick Freeland of Rebel Records and his family came to Japan and discovered us, the Bluegrass 45. Dick invited us to the States and we toured in 1971. Dick introduced us to John Duffey the first day we were in DC. John eventually produced our LP "Caravan" - it was just 2 months before he started the Seldom Scene. Since then John and I became good friends and I even went to Japan with the Scene twice. Unfortunately he passed away in 1996.


On the way back from IBMA in Louisville the fall of 2002, Ronnie Freeland (Dick's son, my best friend and a wonderful engineer) came up with an idea of producing a John Duffey tribute album and of course I agreed. Our first recording session was on the New Year's Eve that year and since then we recorded 53 people!! Four years ago Ronnie passed away and I had to finish the album by myself but it is finally coming out next month!!

[Jim Franey]

Awsome 👍

[AlanN]

This is so very great...

[sgarrity]

Looking forward to this!

[Sleepy Eyed John]

Here's a press release from Folkways:

A rare and special bluegrass all-star cast - featuring Sam Bush, John Cowan, Bela Fleck, Bruce Molsky, Tim O’Brien, Don Rigsby - comes together to create a marvelously fitting tribute to “the father of modern bluegrass,” John Duffey. Their eagerness and passion to record the album attest to how profoundly Duffey impacted them and countless other musicians today. His influence on bluegrass cannot be overstated. Pre-order the album today! http://bit.ly/jduffey
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2 nice things about this Folkways website: 1) You can download its 45 page booklet for free. Yes, I said 45 pages - full of Duffey stories, mandolin stories and great photos. 2) If you pre-order the CD, you get immediate digital download of a single "Sunrise"!!

Thanks,
Akira

[stevedenver]

Here's a press release from Folkways:

A rare and special bluegrass all-star cast - featuring Sam Bush, John Cowan, Bela Fleck, Bruce Molsky, Tim O’Brien, Don Rigsby - comes together to create a marvelously fitting tribute to “the father of modern bluegrass,” John Duffey. Their eagerness and passion to record the album attest to how profoundly Duffey impacted them and countless other musicians today. His influence on bluegrass cannot be overstated. Pre-order the album today! http://bit.ly/jduffey
======================================
2 nice things about this Folkways website: 1) You can download its 45 page booklet for free. Yes, I said 45 pages - full of Duffey stories, mandolin stories and great photos. 2) If you pre-order the CD, you get immediate digital download of a single "Sunrise"!!

Thanks,
Akira

Thanks,
Duff is my #1 mandolin artist role model, innovative, irreverent, funny, competant, edgy, ethical
Ordered mine!
Cant wait

[wayfaringstranger]

I live in DC and know Akira, and I've had the pleasure of listening to this album already. It's fantastic. Really, really well done recording with some terrific performances that was a true labor of love for Akira, and the extensive liner notes alone are worth the CD purchase.

Also neat: Several of the tunes were recorded on Duffey's old mandolin, which also kind of proves the point that sound comes from the player as much as if not more than the instrument, as it sounds very different depending on who did the playing.

[robbif]

You might also want to (re)check out Akira's video series on John Duffey's mandolins...







(Part 4 in the next post.)

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Here is part 4, I hope...