In '67, this revered bluegrass singer/guitarist filled in for an ailing Lester Flatt in Flatt & Scruggs. In 1980, Red recorded this heartfelt tribute to Lester in the wake of his friend's death.... more

After releasing nearly one hundred sides in the 1920s, Clark Kessinger-like many other musicians of the time-lost his recording career during the Depression. This album is his first since 1930,... more

Born in North Carolina in 1911, Bill Johnson started playing the banjo at the age of eight. With his son Billie Ray on guitar and grandson David on fiddle, he leads three generations of talented... more

Washington DC's the Country Gentleman bring together a collection of classic Bluegrass songs from the Blue Ridge Mountains. The album compiles a mix of both fast energetic songs and slow ballads that... more

Country Bluegrass from Southwest Virginia is the first in a series of albums recorded by the Virginia Mountain Boys. Even as many commercial bluegrass bands in the 1970s were being influenced by... more

This second album from Roger Sprung stretches the boundary of the bluegrass style and repertoire even farther with it's selection of rags, fiddle tunes, and even the Greek melody "Misirlou" and an... more

Collected in the mountain country of southwestern Virginia by Eric H. Davidson, Paul Newman, and Caleb E. Finch, this recording focuses specifically on the string band music of Grayson and Carroll... more

A chance meeting with Uncle Dave Macon and a great deal of talent brought Sam and Kirk McGee first to Macon's act and then to the first broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry radio show. On this 1957... more

This album by banjoist Roger Sprung features some classic old-timey tunes like "Cluck Old Hen" and "Bill Cheatham" as well as a few surprises?for example, the Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila" in a... more

The first bluegrass LP ever released, this recording was partially reissued with additional tracks and liner notes in 1990 as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 40037.

Known as "The Father of East Coast Bluegrass," Roger Sprung was born in Manhattan in 1930. The variety of music he encountered in New York informs his banjo playing as he incorporates jazz, old time... more

Of banjo innovator Roger Sprung, Alan Lomax wrote, "Bluegrass emerged fifty years after New Orleans' hot music as mountaineers' answer to jazz. It seems to me that Sprung has taken a logical and... more

The traditional bluegrass music interpreted by Cullen Gaylean (banjo and fiddle) and Bobby Harrison (guitar) hails from the hills spanning southwestern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina.... more

In the 1940s, fiddler and guitarist Glen Neaves formed the Virginia Mountain Boys, and the band performed in varying lineups through the next three decades. In many cases, the members of the band... more

In the 1940s, fiddler and guitarist Glen Neaves formed the Virginia Mountain Boys, and the band performed in varying lineups through the next three decades. In many cases, the members of the band... more

Blind from birth and a true "character," Horton Baker's musical artistry and wit are keenly developed. His repertoire includes songs learned here, there, and everywhere, from ballads taught at the... more