Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 37

Thread: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

  1. #1

    Default Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    With my recent addition of a mandolin to the home, I'm discovering the Bluegrass music is great. Not a revelation to this crowd.

    So, umm, I've been just letting Pandora find good stuff for me so far, but I wanted to know what the real pillar-albums are for bluegrass.

    For example, if someone came up to me and asked me the best alternative rock album from the 90's, I'd gladly point them to Radiohead Ok Computer. Or folk fusion I'd say Paul Simon's Rythm of the Saints. So, quality not necessarily commerical impact, is what I'm driving at.

    Thanks - this'll be good to know. I look forward to digging through and discovering some good stuff.

  2. The following members say thank you to rnice for this post:


  3. #2

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    There's too too many to list!

    Tony Rice - Manzanita (see other thread about this album)
    Grisman Quintet - Rounder album / DGQ / Hot Dawg
    Skaggs - Honoring the fathers
    Hartford - Steam powered aeroplain
    Bela Fleck - Drive / Bluegrass Sessions: Tales form acoustic planet
    Bill Monroe - anything
    Bluegrass album band - Everything
    Flatt & Scruggs - Live at Carnegie Hall
    Hot Rize - Hot Rize

  4. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    North Carolina
    Posts
    12,258

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Yes, far too many to list straight up. Maybe best to chunk it up:

    Early bg/pioneers
    2nd Generation bg
    Oldtime bg
    Trad bg
    Newgrass
    Mostly instrumental bg

    Within each category, there are literally dozens and dozens of recordings, from well-known and obscure bands alike. To get started, simply peruse this here website, you'll find many, many suggestions.

  5. The following members say thank you to AlanN for this post:

    treidm 

  6. #4
    Registered User Charley wild's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Traverse City, Michigan
    Posts
    806

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Quote Originally Posted by AlanN View Post
    Yes, far too many to list straight up. Maybe best to chunk it up:

    Early bg/pioneers
    2nd Generation bg
    Oldtime bg
    Trad bg
    Newgrass
    Mostly instrumental bg

    Within each category, there are literally dozens and dozens of recordings, from well-known and obscure bands alike. To get started, simply peruse this here website, you'll find many, many suggestions.
    This approach gets my vote.

  7. #5
    Registered User Steve Perry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Elizabethtown, Ky
    Posts
    475

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Start with the Bluegrass Album Band... any and all. Traditional Bluegrass songs done by master musicians with modern recording techniques. Work your way backwards, forwards, and sideways from there.
    Steve Perry
    Sumi SF5 Birdseye

    "Quit thinkin'... Just play"

  8. #6
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Gainesville, FL
    Posts
    2,664

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    All of Bill Monroe, The Dreadful Snakes, David Grisman's "Home Is Where The Heart Is", Bluegrass Album Band -Vol.1, early Flatt and Scruggs and almost anything the Stanley Brothers did. Have fun.

  9. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Berkeley, CA
    Posts
    1,629

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    For those just starting out listening to BG music, I often recommend three compilations: the Time-Life BG sets and Appalachain Stomp Vols. I and II.

    http://www.amazon.com/Appalachian-St...1364673&sr=8-1

    http://www.amazon.com/Appalachian-St...1364990&sr=1-2

    (Currently out of print, but readily available used.)

    http://music.barnesandnoble.com/Time...e/610583022322

    (Lots of overlap between this and similar stuff from T-L and the "Appalachain Stomp" sets.)

    Good versions of "the standards" by many of the leading lights in the field. You can get a sense of whose music appeals to you (though give it some time -- it took me MANY years to fully appreciate Bill Monroe).

    I also like the "Hand Picked" compilation on Rounder:

    http://www.amazon.com/Hand-Picked-Ye...ref=pd_sim_m_6
    EdSherry

  10. #8
    Registered User red7flag's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Dickson, TN
    Posts
    3,292

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    JD Crowe and the New South Rounder 0044 (Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Ricky Skaggs)
    Early Tony Rice albums have much the same sound.
    First IIIrd Tyme Out cd (Alan Bibey is simply stunning)
    Seldom Scene Live at the Cellar Door
    Ralph Stanley Live in Japan (Has Roy Lee Centers as lead, has that Stanley Bros sound on vocals)
    Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Was what turned me onto banjo, Earl on side three was awesome)
    Tony Huber
    1930 Martin Style C #14783
    2011 Mowry GOM
    2013 Hester F4 #31
    2014 Ellis F5 #322
    2017 Nyberg Mandola #172

  11. #9
    Registered User MandoNicity's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Aspen Colorado
    Posts
    710

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Quote Originally Posted by mdlorenz View Post
    There's too too many to list!

    Tony Rice - Manzanita (see other thread about this album)
    Grisman Quintet - Rounder album / DGQ / Hot Dawg
    Skaggs - Honoring the fathers
    Hartford - Steam powered aeroplain
    Bela Fleck - Drive / Bluegrass Sessions: Tales form acoustic planet
    Bill Monroe - anything
    Bluegrass album band - Everything
    Flatt & Scruggs - Live at Carnegie Hall
    Hot Rize - Hot Rize
    There's so much good music out there of all stripes, but I like this list. In particular make sure you get "Drive", by Bela Fleck, one of the best darn BG albums ever!

  12. #10
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Posts
    2,354

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    I'd say buy collections of the Fathers of Bluegrass, i.e., Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Stanley Bros., Jim & Jesse McReynolds, Carl Story & his Rambling Mountaineers, etc.

    That way you'll hear the standards of the genre of Bluegrass that make it the great music that it is.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	FlattAndScruggs..jpg 
Views:	2845 
Size:	38.8 KB 
ID:	57375   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	BillMonroe..jpg 
Views:	445 
Size:	18.4 KB 
ID:	57376   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	jesse..jpg 
Views:	505 
Size:	176.7 KB 
ID:	57377  


  13. #11
    Registered User big smiley guy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Middle of the Shenandoah
    Posts
    116

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Rounder 0044 (as already stated) seems to be a good starting point. I like Del and the Boys by Del McCoury, Billy Martin, Tony Rice, Bill Monroe and some Hot Rize. I'm not a fan of newgrass, jamgrass or much current bluegrass so I tend more towards the traditional. I'm a big fan of Norman Blake and the Louvin Brothers as well but I don't think they qualify as bluegrass. I should say that the term bluegrass has a much looser interpretation where my family is from in 'Bama than it does in the Virginia/North Carolina region.

  14. #12

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    "419 West Main" - Red Cravens & the Bray Brothers.

    Don't know if it's the best, but I've always ended up listening to it over the others that I have.

  15. The following members say thank you to wsugai for this post:


  16. #13
    Registered User John Hill's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Kentucky
    Posts
    1,258
    Blog Entries
    4

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Wow...great ideas here. Too many to list and some surely will be left off. I'd say start with the Father of BG: Monroe, throw in any album by The Bluegrass Album Band and I concur with "Home Is Where The Heart Is" by Grisman. I love Grisman's playing of straight ahead bluegrass.
    There are three kinds of people: those of us that are good at math and those that are not.

  17. #14
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    maryland
    Posts
    1,410

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    First, everything that Bill Monroe did with Earl Scruggs & Lester Flatt.

    Then, The Bluegrass Album Band, all 6 projects.

    Bob
    re simmers

  18. #15
    Registered User MandoNicity's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Aspen Colorado
    Posts
    710

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    A couple more "Must" listen to's: Seldom Scene - Live at the Cellar Door
    Country Gentlemen - New Look New Sound
    Red Allen and the Kentuckians (with Frank Wakefield) - Bluegrass
    Jimmy Martin - This world is Not my Home
    Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver - Best of the Sugar Hill Years
    Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza

    That should keep you busy for a while and give a mix of some of the best BG styles.

    JR

  19. #16
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    27

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    The two Bela Fleck albums: Bluegrass Sessions and Drive. Those are the two discs that made me want to play bluegrass music.

  20. #17
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    US
    Posts
    1,239

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Quote Originally Posted by big smiley guy View Post
    ... I like Del and the Boys by Del McCoury, Billy Martin, Tony Rice, Bill Monroe and some Hot Rize...
    Well Billy was a darn good baseball manager but I prefer Jimmy Martin when it comes to bluegrass
    GVD

  21. #18
    Registered User big smiley guy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Middle of the Shenandoah
    Posts
    116

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    You are correct - the King was Jimmy. The Yankee was Billy - sometimes. Billy Williams is my favorite songwriter...

  22. #19
    Registered User Dave Wrede's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Montana
    Posts
    234

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    There are some great suggestions here. The first "Circle" album got me into bluegrass. One of my particular favorites is the "Here Today" album with Grisman, Herb Pederson, Vince Gill, Jim Buchanan, & Emory Gordy, Jr. Very traditional and "new" sounding at the same time.


  23. The following members say thank you to Dave Wrede for this post:


  24. #20
    Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    victoria, canada
    Posts
    3,514

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Red Allen's County material, now available in one collection from County Sales. The greatest bluegrass singer of them all, imho.

  25. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to mandolirius For This Useful Post:


  26. #21

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Thank very much!

    I think I'll cruise around for used copies of Bela Fleck the the Blue Grass Album Band as a place to start. I'll come back to this thread for more good stuff after that has settled in.

  27. #22
    Registered User banjer23's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Pikeville, Kentucky
    Posts
    79

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    wow,,,I'd have to say,,JD's album,,rounder,0044,,Old Home Place,,every cut a classic,,,
    Passernig #64
    Gibson Blackjack
    Fender Wildwood '54 Reissue Strat
    Ernie Ball Silhouette

  28. #23
    Registered User Harrmob's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Mobile, AL
    Posts
    304

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Bluegrass 95 never got old the hundreds of times I listened to it. No singing, just awesome pickin.

  29. #24
    Registered User Rex Hart's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lebanon, Mo.
    Posts
    302

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    Lonesome River Band "Carrying the Tradition"
    Blue Highway "Midnight Storm"
    Tony Rice "Manzanita"
    JD Crowe and the New South #00044
    Old and In The Way

    These are some of the one's I keep coming back too that never get out of rotation very long.
    08' Gibson Fern
    1964 Martin D-18
    www.potterswheelgospel.com

  30. #25
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Grass Valley California
    Posts
    3,727

    Default Re: Best Bluegrass Albums Ever

    With all the stresses and strains on keeping a good band together it is a small wonder that most have changed personnel over the years, and many very good bands that formed up and performed for years have gone asunder. The Osborne Brothers, and the Johnson Mountain Boys are two very good examples of solid bluegrass that can send chills up your back or a tear from your eye. I have a cassette of the JMB titled "Working close" that just gets better and better the more I hear it.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •