mdsmith - Posted - 02/18/2009:  08:08:08

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What are your top ten must have bluegrass banjo albums of all time? Or think of it this way, if someone were just starting banlo and looking for some good albums to listen to, what would you recommend?

Ronnie - Posted - 02/18/2009:  08:20:26

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Foggy Mountain Banjo for sure!!

www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com

GibsonGal - Posted - 02/18/2009:  08:23:39

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JD Crowe and the New South 0044.

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Have you hugged your flathead today?

d4dooley - Posted - 02/18/2009:  08:25:04

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Flatt & Scruggs Live at Carnegie Hall... 32 tracks and lots of fun to listen to (and play along with).

http://www.amazon.com/At-Carnegie-H...p/B000006J60

Dooley
Denver, CO

mdsmith - Posted - 02/18/2009:  08:27:44

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I'd have to throw in Jim Mills. Either My Dixie Home or Hide Head Blues

airborne - Posted - 02/18/2009:  08:30:16

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my first is the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's will the circle be unbroken, Bill Keith something auld album, Jimmy Martin's bluegrass hit's
Alan Munde the banjo kid pick again, the Osborne Brothers fastest grass alive, Eric Weissberg's Deliverance,
Kentucky Colonels and last but not least Flatt's and Scrggs hard travelin

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Edited by - airborne on 02/18/2009 08:31:54

gjt1028 - Posted - 02/18/2009:  08:41:21

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Not in this particular order:
Flatt & Scruggs Complete Mercury Sessions
F&S Foggy Mountain Banjo
Eric Weissberg/Marshall Brickman New Dimensions in Bluegrass Banjo
NGDB Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Reno & Smiley - Country Singing & Instrumentals
Country Gazette - Don't Give Up Your Day Job
Kentucky Colonels
Bill Keith Something Auld Something Newgrass
Jim & Jesse 1952 - 1955
F&S Live at Crnegie Hall

miiloo - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:02:34

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Nice topic. You've got to consider The Dillards Live! Almost. Great music, yeah, but Dean, the bass player, does some of the best stories and jokes leading into the songs that you'll ever hear.
This is a vinyl recording. I don't think you can get it on cd.
Thanks for listening.
Milo

Jayme Stone - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:08:28

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here are my top ten, though there are a couple of crucial albums that are not bluegrass:

earl scruggs / foggy mountain banjo
flatt and scruggs / the golden era
bela fleck / drive
bela fleck / tales from the acoustic planet
john hartford / aeroplane
tony trischka / hill country
jd crowe / bluegrass album band
dreadful snakes / snakes alive
punch brothers / punch
mike seeger / southern banjo sounds

J








www.jaymestone.com
www.woodhallmusic.com

pearcemusic - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:13:20

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this is kind of a smorgasbord ....

Seldom Scene "Live at the Cellar Door"
Bean Blossom -
Will the Circle be Unbroken
Carl Jackson "Banjo Player"
Vic Jordan "Pickaway"
any Bela NGR .... "On the Boulevard" in particular
any JD Crowe or Lester&Earl, of course ....

The Pearce Family Bluegrass Band
www.pearcemusic.com

moses - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:17:28

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1. J.D. Crowe & New South (Rou 044)
2. Flatt & Scruggs Live at Carnegie Hall
3. Flatt & Scruggs Foggy Mt. Banjo
4. Seldom Scene Live at the Cellar Door
5. Country Gentlemen Award Winning
6. Lonesome River Band Carrying the Tradition
7. Bluegrass Album Band Vol. 1
8. Bluegrass Album Band California Connection
9. Ralph Stanley & Clinch Mt. Boys Cry From The Cross
10. Blue Highway Marbletown

There are so many it is really hard to say. These are my favorites.

Westvon - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:25:41

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Okay, this all one's personal opinion but, here are my ten, but necessarily in chronological order.

Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Banjo
Jim Mills - My Dixie Home
Alan Munde - Banjo Sandwich
Alan Shelton _ Shelton Special
Sammy Shelor - Leading Roll
Craig Smith - Craig Smith
Carl Jackson - Songs of the South
Bobby Thompson - Thompson Picks
Bobby Thompson - Thompson Picks Some More
Bill Keith - Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass



David Russell

www.thebluegrassmusician.com

mdsmith - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:44:49

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Great call on Marbletown and Tales from an Acoustic Planet. I'd also have to say Doug Dillard's Banjo Album is up there for me, I love his verdion of Clinch Mnt Backstep. Thanks miiloo, I thought this would be a good way to find out about some stuff I haven't checked out yet. Hopefully everyone else will too

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Edited by - mdsmith on 02/18/2009 09:52:06

ghassell - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:54:11

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So many wonderful records are already here. You may consider adding Tony Trischka's Double Banjo Spectacular and Alan Munde's Festival Favorites. I'm also partial to Curtis McPeake's The View from McPeake, which is available directly from Curtis.

Ronnie - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:55:01

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Area Code 615/Trip in the Country

www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com

Cornflake - Posted - 02/18/2009:  09:58:25

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[quote]Originally posted by miiloo

Nice topic. You've got to consider The Dillards Live! Almost. Great music, yeah, but Dean, the bass player, does some of the best stories and jokes leading into the songs that you'll ever hear.
This is a vinyl recording. I don't think you can get it on cd.
Thanks for listening.
Milo

===============

I totally agree with Live Almost (however, Mitch jane is the bass player/ emcce)


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It takes a village to tune a banjo

D.W. - Posted - 02/18/2009:  10:00:45

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Here's My List:

The Bluegrass Trinity:

16 Gems / Bill Monroe
The Complete Mercury Sessions / Flatt and Scruggs
The Best of the Best of the Stanley Brothers / The Stanley Brothers.

Others (to complete the top 10):

25 Years of Bluegrass On Rounder Records / Various Artists.
Will the Circle Be Unbroken / Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Bridge / Jens Kruger (not strictly bluegrass but worth it)
Something by Tony Trishka
Something by Bela Fleck
Something by any Artist whos music inspires you and/or who you might hope to emulate (before you discover your own sound of course).**

**= I'm letting this last one count as two.



-----------------------------------------------
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
- Fran, "Strictly Ballroom" (1992)

dcnchair - Posted - 02/18/2009:  10:36:00

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I can't think of ten, but the ones that I've kind of sucked the life out of are Foggy Mt. Banjo, Eric Weissberg's record, Ralph's "A Man and His Music", Butch Robins' "The Fifth Child", and Bob Black's "Ladies On The Steamboat". Those records to me are what banjo playing is all about.
Dave Nauman

arnie fleischer - Posted - 02/18/2009:  11:56:23

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Just 10??? How about 11? In no particular order:

Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Banjo
Don Stover - Things in Life
Bill Emerson - Goldplated Banjo
John Hickman - Don't Mean Maybe
Jim Mills - Hide Head Blues
Bill Keith - Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass
Don Reno - any compilation, it doesn't matter, it's all amazing
Alan Munde - the Festival Favorites recordings
Tom Adams - Live at the Ragged Edge, with Mike Cleveland
Eddie Shelton - Expedition
Joe Mullins - Just a Five String and a Fiddle, with Gerald Evans


A couple of significant recordings that are not primarily banjo albums yet give the banjo a lot of prominence and demonstrate a variety of styles are Byron Berline's "Dad's Favorites" featuring Alan Munde, John Hickman, Doug Dillard, John Hartford and Larry McNeely and "Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe" with Bob Black and Vic Jordan. The first two Country Gentlemen recordings on Folkways feature Eddie Adcock's amazing and unique style. For gorgeous vocal backup playing on slow and moderate speed tunes, listen to Bobby Lundy with Dan Paisley and the Southern Grass on Carrying on the Tradition. To truly understand what bluegrass - not just bluegrass banjo playing - is all about, listen to the first generation bands: Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, the Osborne Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse, Reno & Smiley, etc.

Darcy - Posted - 02/18/2009:  12:25:31

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I guess this also depends on what you're looking at (in terms of wide variety of styles... instrumentals etc...) There are some great ones listed. I guess I'll name ones that haven't been mentioned. In no particular order.
Here Today - Herb Pederson
Muleskinner - Bill Keith (in a band setting)
Hot Rize - So Long of a Journey
Bill Emerson - Home of the Red Fox
Bela Fleck - Tales From the Acoustic Planet Vol 2 (that one is more bluegrass than the first one)
Johnson Mountain Boys - Live From the Birchmere (I'm a sucker for live albums)

Ones that have been mentioned but deserve mentioning again. Rounder 0044, Lonesome River Band - Carrying the Tradition, Seldom Scene - Live at the Cellar Door, Flatt and Scruggs Complete Mercury Sessions and Grass Roots - The Best of New Grass Revival (which is like cheating as they're compilation albums but include such great stuff)

DENNISNDODIE - Posted - 02/18/2009:  13:05:51

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#1 JD Crowe - Bluegrass Holiday #2 The Seldom Scene - live at the cellar door #3 The Osbourn Brothers - Once more Vol 1&2 #4 Doyle Lawson&Quicksilver - The news is out #5 Flatt & Scruggs - greatest Hits #6 Larry Sparks & The lonesome ramblers - Silver Reflections #7 Dave Evans & Riverbend - Going round this world #8 The Stanley Brothers Greatest hits #9 The Johnson Mountain Boys - Blue diamond Mine #10 The Boys from Indiana - The Girl with the blue velvet band IMO the best Bluegrass availabe on the market today

Oh my brother take this warning
Don''t let ol Satan take your hand
You''ll be lost in sin forever
You''ll never reach the promised land

The old crossroads now is waiting
Which one are you going to take
One leads down to destruction
The other to the pearly gate

One road leads up to heaven
The other goes down below
Jesus our savior will protect you
He''ll guide you through the old crossroads

Soon your life will be over
You''ll have to face the old crossroads
Will you be ready then my brother
To shun the one down below

ryansatterfield - Posted - 02/18/2009:  15:25:10

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quote:

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Originally posted by arnie fleischer

Just 10??? How about 11? In no particular order:
Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Banjo
Don Stover - Things in Life
Bill Emerson - Goldplated Banjo
John Hickman - Don't Mean Maybe
Jim Mills - Hide Head Blues
Bill Keith - Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass
Don Reno - any compilation, it doesn't matter, it's all amazing
Alan Munde - the Festival Favorites recordings
Tom Adams - Live at the Ragged Edge, with Mike Cleveland
Eddie Shelton - Expedition
Joe Mullins - Just a Five String and a Fiddle, with Gerald Evans

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Arnie, you and I must have similar tastes. I had read through this thread earlier in the afternoon, and thought I'd fill in some of the blanks on what I consider great albums a little later in the evening. Reading back through it again, you seemed to have nailed almost everything I wanted to add!




-Ryan Satterfield

Westvon - Posted - 02/18/2009:  15:52:44

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quote:

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Originally posted by Westvon

Okay, this all one's personal opinion but, here are my ten, but necessarily in chronological order.

Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Banjo
Jim Mills - My Dixie Home
Alan Munde - Banjo Sandwich
Alan Shelton _ Shelton Special
Sammy Shelor - Leading Roll
Craig Smith - Craig Smith
Carl Jackson - Songs of the South
Bobby Thompson - Thompson Picks
Bobby Thompson - Thompson Picks Some More
Bill Keith - Something Auld, Something Newgrass, Something Borrowed, Something Bluegrass



David Russell

www.thebluegrassmusician.com

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Okay, I forgot to add Butch Robin's, Forty Years Late and John Hickman's Don't Mean Maybe. That would make it 12, but oh well

David Russell

www.thebluegrassmusician.com

ewertj - Posted - 02/18/2009:  17:08:50

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That album "Tom Adams and Michael Cleveland Live at the Ragged Edge" hasn't been mentioned yet, and it's spectacular. The level of improvisation on that album is staggering.
Bela Fleck "Drive" - THE album that opened my ears to bluegrass.
All of Scott Vestal's "Bluegrass 199-" projects

5Wires - Posted - 02/18/2009:  17:29:53

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Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe
Young Opry Fiddler - Jimmy Campbell -
Pieces of Time - Jimmy Campbell -
Fiddlepatch - Bobby Hicks -
Mark Twang - John Hartford
Aereoplane - John Hartford
The Bill Monroe Box Set (have not any of you heard of Bill Monroe?)
The Fifth Child - Butch Robins
40 Years Late - Butch Robins


"Jazz is not dead...........it just smells funny" (Frank Zappa)

"We are not anti-union, we are anti-union domination" (John Howard)

GibsonGal - Posted - 02/18/2009:  17:38:33

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quote:

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Originally posted by miiloo

Nice topic. You've got to consider The Dillards Live! Almost. Great music, yeah, but Dean, the bass player, does some of the best stories and jokes leading into the songs that you'll ever hear.
This is a vinyl recording. I don't think you can get it on cd.
Thanks for listening.
Milo

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It is available on cd that also includes Back Porch Bluegrass. I enjoy it very much...

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Have you hugged your flathead today?

El Dobro - Posted - 02/18/2009:  18:10:11

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Two that I haven't seen listed yet:
Bluegrass Instrumentals by The Osborne Brothers
12 Shades of Bluegrass by Bob Johnson & The Lonesome Travelers

Don
http://www.myspace.com/eldobro
http://www.myspace.com/pasttimesband
http://www.pasttimesbluegrassband.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/pasttimesbluegrass

bhrb75 - Posted - 02/18/2009:  18:45:47

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#1: Foggy Mountain Banjo - FLatt & Scruggs
#2 Foggy Mountain Jamboree- Flatt & Scruggs
#3 Five String Magic- Wynn Osborne & His Bluegrass Playboys
#4 Bluegrass Concerto- The Osborne Brothers
#5 Big & Country Instrumentals- Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mountain Boys
#6 Ramblin Boy -J.D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys
#7 Five String Time - Charlie Cushman
#8 Rounder 0044- J.D. Crowe & The New South
#9 Drive- Bela Fleck
#10 A tie between these three: Bound To Ride, Hide Head Blues & My Dixie Home-Jim Mills

There are so many good ones!! Why do you guys make me think that hard?!?

Brandon

"He lives so far back in there, they had to roll ''em Martha White biscuits in in a wheelbar."

ghassell - Posted - 02/19/2009:  08:07:28

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5 Wires' selection of the Kenny Baker record is savvy. The headliner is a fiddle player, but arent the banjo duties on this terrific record handled by Bob Black? That's my recollection, and Black is a great, great player who really shines on these classics. He is jaw-dropping in person, and I dont know where to get a lot of his recorded work. Earlier in this thread someone mentioned a solo record that I have not yet found anywhere.

Brevabloke - Posted - 02/19/2009:  08:20:14

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As a very off-beat selection (sort of) what about "Son Of Rounder Banjo"? Packed full of great playing in all styles but there is quite a bit of BG in there. "Baby Don't Think Twice" - Herb Pederson right? AWESOME.

Scott the Aussie in London

dcnchair - Posted - 02/19/2009:  08:45:04

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"Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe" belongs on any list of any great albums; I believe Vic Jordan did most of the banjo work, but I think Bob Black and Butch Robins may also be in there on a cut or two.
Dave Nauman

black flag - Posted - 02/19/2009:  09:11:49

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Reno & Smiley--"Wanted"

We are here on earth to do good for others.
What the others are here for, I don''t know.
--W.H. Auden

black flag - Posted - 02/19/2009:  09:30:39

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quote:

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Originally posted by ghassell

5 Wires' selection of the Kenny Baker record is savvy. The headliner is a fiddle player, but arent the banjo duties on this terrific record handled by Bob Black? That's my recollection, and Black is a great, great player who really shines on these classics. He is jaw-dropping in person, and I dont know where to get a lot of his recorded work. Earlier in this thread someone mentioned a solo record that I have not yet found anywhere.

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Bob Black can also be heard playing on The Perfect Strangers cd and backing up Chris Brashear on "Wanderlust", which is a fine and unknown album.
Here's Bob's website: http://www.banjoy.com/store.html

We are here on earth to do good for others.
What the others are here for, I don''t know.
--W.H. Auden

ghassell - Posted - 02/19/2009:  11:00:17

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Great tip. I will log on and buy Ladies on the Steamboat, someone's earlier Top 10, today. Thanks!

arnie fleischer - Posted - 02/19/2009:  12:24:03

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On "Kenny Baker Plays Bill Monroe" Bob Black plays banjo on Brown County Breakdown, Jerusalem Ridge, Mississippi Waltz and Ashland Breakdown. Vic Jordan plays banjo on the rest. Source: "The Music of Bill Monroe" by Rosenberg and Wolfe.

ghassell - Posted - 02/19/2009:  13:01:54

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Thanks. One other point of interest - mandolin on that record is played by Monroe, who came in to play backup to his longtime sideman.

rstieg - Posted - 02/19/2009:  14:55:40

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I'd have to include the Bluegrass Compact Disc Vol. 1 & 2 - Bluegrass Album Band.

RICH
Pleasanton, CA

The truth is a moving target... perception is more important than reality... everything is relative...

gbkyser - Posted - 02/19/2009:  15:20:55

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Gotta add Tom Adams "Right Hand Man."

GUY

OSCAR82AA - Posted - 02/19/2009:  17:27:54

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Ralph Stanley and The Clinch MT. Boys
Lonesome and Blue - Rebel Records

mrbook - Posted - 02/19/2009:  17:43:52

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Where's Bill Monroe in all this? Got to get my list together.

Bill

Compass56 - Posted - 02/19/2009:  17:44:40

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OK, I gotta represent for my 4-string heroes:

Anything and everything by Cynthia Sayer
Anything and everything by Eddy Davis
Anything and everything by my two favorite Preservation Hall banjoists: Narvin Kimbell and Don Vappie
Harlem Banjo by Elmer Snowden

plunka5 - Posted - 02/19/2009:  18:17:00

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I've been listening to bluegrass since I was eight years old. I like various types of music, and "my best" certainly will reflect my choices for what I consider my top 10 choices of all time....

They are, in no particular order:

Charlie Cushman "Five String Time"
Bela Fleck "The Bluegrass Sessions"
Jim Mills "Hide Head Blues"
Reno & Smiley "Play Bluegrass Instrumentals"
Old & In The Way "Old & In The Way"
Winn Osborne "The Banjos That Destroyed The World"
Northern Lights "Take You To The Sky"
John Hartford "Morning Bugle"
John Hartford "Aereo Plain"
The Johnson Mountain Boys "At The Old Schoolhouse"




THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PRACTICE ON GETTING TO KNOW YOUR BANJO!!!!!!

renopker - Posted - 02/19/2009:  18:59:27

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Any Reno Smiley, Bob Black & Jim Moss (Tan yards) Alan Munde (Sam and Alan together again )

stellingbelle - Posted - 02/19/2009:  19:46:10

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Eddie Shelton...Expedition. Hands down!

T.

Rylandish - Posted - 02/19/2009:  20:27:06

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I'm going to feel so terribly New School and probably be shunned and excommunicated and ostrich-sized, but... There's this new little band called the Punch Brothers, and they have a mighty fine banjo player. "How to Grow a Woman from the Ground" and "Punch" are both phenomenal albums, both bluegrass quintet-- guitar, mandolin, banjo, violin, and double bass... man, they blow me away.

Crooked Still's got a good one too.

maverick - Posted - 02/19/2009:  21:13:10

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I know I will take some Flack but AKUS Everytime you say goodbye is one of my all time favorite Albums..

Lifes a Garden Dig it !!

RT - Posted - 02/19/2009:  22:27:56

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Logview's first record is in my top ten.

silvioferretti - Posted - 02/19/2009:  23:51:07

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I would recommend ANYTHING featuring Scruggs and Crowe, most of what Sonny O. recorded, and a healthy mix of other players including quite a few chromelodic melomatics . The one album that could be on my turntable all the time and never wear me out, though, is the Rounder 0044: I could listen to it 24/7 and still find a little thing here and there that would surprise me and send me back to practicing...

Speaking of banjo pickers, Chris Battin mentioned Chris Brashear: well, Chris Brashear is a mighty fine banjo player as well, besides being a great fiddle and guitar player and singer, and songwriter, and wonderful human being. I urge you all to check out his CDs, with The Perfect Strangers, with Peter McLaughlin, or under his own name: there is no banjo from Chris ("just" from Bob Black ) so you'll have to take my word for his ability, but they're all mighty fine CDs.

"Just once I would like to hear you scream in pain" "Play some rap music..." Bruce Willis on The Last Boy Scout.

Silvio Ferretti http://www.scorpionmusic.com

pfunk - Posted - 02/20/2009:  03:35:23

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quote:

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Originally posted by D.W.

Here's My List:

The Bluegrass Trinity:

16 Gems / Bill Monroe
The Complete Mercury Sessions / Flatt and Scruggs
The Best of the Best of the Stanley Brothers / The Stanley Brothers.

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Hey DW, I'm guessing you are a present or past Kris Brooks student?

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Edited by - pfunk on 02/20/2009 03:36:20