Tradition
Rounder CD 0564
Georgie; Fish In The Mill Pond; Childrens Songs:Julie Jenkins/Hushabye/Baa Nanny Black Sheep/Sheepy and the Goat; I Heard My Mother Weeping; Reuben's Train; Biscuits; Tucker's Barn; Give the Fiddler a Dram; And Am I Born to Die? Marthy, Won't You Have Some Good Old Cider? A-Roving On A Winter's Night; Arnold's Tune; Pretty Saro; Early, Early In The Spring; Little Maggie; Bill Banks; Rambling Hobo; One Morning in May; The Faithful Soldier; Omie Wise; Jimmy Sutton.
The booklet notes, mainly by Bert Lloyd but with notes on the recordings by Ralph Rinzler, are fairly brief by today's standards, but manage to give a convincing picture of a blind boy's growing up in a family like this, and his emergence as a professional musician as a young man. There are a number of heartening anecdotes, plus an only slightly camouflaged concern that (even though he was only in his mid 40s at the time and had been a professional musician for years) he was quite as happy playing rock'n'roll and Bluegrass as he was with the timeless classics of the local repertoire.
The music and singing - it almost goes without saying - is just wonderful. Gaither Carlton gets the lion's share, contributing to 12 of the tracks, but the other family members all aquit themselves admirably - no one seeming to have been included for the sake of 'completeness' rather than quality.
Readers who don't own the original LP should really think seriously about buying this CD - it's one of the necessities of a good collection.
Rod Stradling - 17.12.05
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