Tony Trischka: Hill Country

Rounder Records has reissued the long out-of-print album, Hill Country, which now, through a bit of technological time-shifting, is oddly the follow-up to 2007’s Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular. Originally released in 1985, the album was a departure for Trischka, who admitted in the liner notes to being “a modern, or avant-garde, banjo player, and this reputation is certainly well founded,” as he revealed an ability to create a traditional bluegrass sound, which the album’s title evokes. There’s no surprise that his love for traditional bluegrass came from the legends Bill Monroe and Flatt and Scruggs, who inspire most people’s love for the genre. He spent many hours wearing out the records in an effort “to absorb not just the technique of their music, but the emotion as well.”

Trischka surrounded himself with talented individuals, who are well-known names in bluegrass. Over the course of two different single-day sessions, guitarists Del McCoury and Tony Rice, mandolin player Sam Bush, Dobro player Jerry Douglas, and banjoist Béla Fleck, who studied under Trischka, accompanied him. Fleck also produced the Nashville sessions while Trischka handled the duties of the Springfield, Virginia sessions.

The album opens with “Brandy Station.” The quick pace and the repetition of the instruments all playing similar leads evoke a train passing through rolling hills of the South. “Sunny Days” triples the pleasure as Trischka is joined on banjo by the song’s co-writer Sonny Osborne and Fleck.

“Looking for the Light,” the only song on the album with lyrics, is a gospel number. The lead vocal is sung by Del McCoury and his son, bassist Jerry, joins in on harmony. Another difference in the song is that Trischka’s banjo plays no leads, only offering support.

Throughout “New York Chimes,” Trischka offers some intriguing moments as he creates the sounds of chimes, likely plunking the strings between the bridge and the tailpiece. “Strawberry Plains” is the longest song, the only one to last more than four minutes, and it provides a great showcase, allowing the musicians more time to stretch out. “Mississippi Sawyer,” a short traditional song that finds Trischka supporting fiddle player Eddie Stubbs, follows it. On “Crosseyed Cricket,” the mandolin and fiddle take turns emulating a cricket’s song.

Hill Country is a wonderful nod to yesteryear and it’s good to see its reemergence. The album’s only flaw is that it runs less than 37 minutes, and that includes the bonus track “Buffalo Creek” from 2000’s Knee Deep in Bluegrass: The AcuTab Sessions, a very good tune with more of a modern bluegrass sound. The CD booklet has the original liner notes by Trischka as well as new notes from mandolin player Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad and banjo player Tom Adams.

Best of The Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Vol 3 & 4

In 1945, guitarist Lester Flatt and banjoist Earl Scruggs first worked together as members of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, the legendary band whose name was used to define the genre of music they played. Less than three years later, the two men ventured out and became stars in their own right. Their partnership lasted over twenty years before they parted ways in 1969. Their most well known songs are the instrumental “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” used in Bonnie and Clyde, and “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the theme song for The Beverly Hillbillies.

During their tenure, they had a successful regional television program that aired from 1955 until 1969. Martha White Mills, who first sponsored the fellows on radio, continued that relationship into the relatively new medium. Pet Milk later joined them for a time. When Flatt & Scruggs first started the show, they would play live at stations in different cities. At some point, they began recording the programs to videotape.

These shows were thought lost until 1989 when one day in his garage, Bill Graham, who worked at Noble-Druy Advertising Agency, the firm that represented Martha White Mills, found a number of old films and videotapes, including 24 episodes of Flatt and Scruggs Grand Ole Opry. Four have already released titled Best of The Flatt & Scruggs TV Show, Volume 1 and 2 and four more are now available to the public on Volume 3 and 4.

The shows had the same basic rundown with slight variations. They opened with a couple of songs, usually an instrumental and a song sung by Flatt. Next up was a live commercial with announcer T. Tommy Cutrer and a female model showing a recipe using Martha White flour. Then three more songs, another Martha White commercial, another three songs, a Pet Milk commercial, then a number or two to close out the show.

All the band members got their moments to shine, whether Paul Warren leading on fiddle or a duet between John Graves on dobro and Jake Tullock on bass. The latter had a spot between the second and third commercial and included a comedy bit afterwards. Dedications were made to fans that wrote in, and Flatt always included a pitch for the Flatt and Scruggs a picture album song book filled with photos and song lyrics.

Vol. 3 contains an episode recorded in January 1959 that aired from November or December of 1961 and an episode from January 1962 where the band is joined by seven-year-old Ricky Skaggs for two numbers. He plays mandolin on “Foggy Mountain Special” sings the Osborne Brothers’ classic “Ruby.”

Vol. 4 opens with Show #18, date unknown, but the liner notes presume it was around June 1961. The second program aired March 1962 and the band was joined by Hylo Brown, who sang “To My Mansion In The Sky” and “How Could You Forget,” and Earl’s eight-year-old son, Randy Lynn, who plays Mother Maybelle Carter’s autoharp on “Wildwood Flower” and “I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home.” The songs Randy appears on are performed on Vol. 3 as are “Cacklin’ Hen” and “Lord I’m Coming Home.”

Best of The Flatt & Scruggs TV Show is a great find, not only presenting the band in their prime, but is a great look back at early television. The liner notes are fantastic, providing in-depth information about the band, the television series, and the songs on the individual programs. Fans of bluegrass and early television should do themselves a favor and seek these DVDs out. Everyone else should do the world a favor and see what treasures are hidden in their garage.

Uncle Earl
WATERLOO, TENNESSEE

Uncle Earl is back with their second album of bluegrass/old time music gems. First formed in 1999 by KC Groves, they are a talented quartet of musicians who all contribute great vocals, taking turns singing lead. When they harmonize, a window into Heaven must be open because they sound angelic. The best examples are the a cappella numbers “Buonparte” and “Easy in the Early (‘Til Sundown).”

“The Last Goodbye” finds the g’Earls joined by Gillian Welch brushing the drums, the instrument’s only appearance on the album. It’s a touching song about a 20-year-old girl finally tired of a boy’s immaturity and lack of commitment. She moved on and is getting married to someone else.

“Wish I Had My Time Again” is a traditional tune with new lyrics inspired by the story of Ron Cotton, who was wrongly imprisoned for 11 years before being released. The music sounds much more joyful than the story the lyrics tell, but it reflects the spirit of the narrator who continues fighting. The same dichotomy happens on “Drinker Born.” The music is so infectious that it almost compels the listener to jump out of their seat and dance despite the narrator’s claim that “…if you don’t bring me another quart of corn/
Gonna jump in that river and drown.”

“My Little Carpenter” has a simple arrangement of just a guitar and mandola, the latter played by the album’s producer John Paul Jones. The first known recording of the song is by fiddler Jim Howard in 1937 thanks to the work of archivist Alan Lomax. The lyrics have a religious connotation as Jesus was a carpenter and the fair maid spurs other men and material gifts, “gold chains and finger rings,” for her “whole heart's delight.”

“Sisters of the Road” is named after an organization that helps the homeless in Portland, Oregon. It is just Rayna Gellert on fiddle accompanied by the clogging of Kristn Andreassen. There’s something very inspirational about the sound of someone dancing because it is one of the few ways to experience another’s soul.

“Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat (a.k.a. Hongshao Rou)” is an old traditional number with new words. Before I saw the title, I thought the g’Earls had branched into Cajun/Zydeco because I didn’t understand the words and the fiddle is an integral part of both musical genres. I learned that Abigail Washburn is singing in Chinese, which at first seems absurd until discovering Hongshao Rou, Mao Zedong’s favorite dish, is a small steak of lean meant and a big piece of fat. There’s also the line “Ta qinkaui de yaoming you (She plays that thing like she’s starting a revolution)” which ties the whole idea together quite nicely.

The fun and humor continue on “D & P Blues,” short for “Drinking & Promiscuity.” The narrator takes “to lovin like a fish takes to a lake” and “to drinkin’ like a bird takes to the sky.” During the song, a party breaks out in the background. The raucous pleasure of Saturday night gives way to the solemn joy Sunday morning can bring on the cover of The Carter Family’s “The Birds Were Singing of You” and the aforementioned “Easy in the Early (‘Til Sundown).” Both songs have narrators finding Heaven on Earth.

Ola Belle Reed’s “My Epitaph” is a somber number, heart-wrenching but pragmatic, as the narrator sings about her impending death and requests to people that “What we do for each other let us do it today” because “…we have no promise that tomorrow will come.” She suggests “The flowers you give, please give them today/ Don’t waste their beauty on cold lifeless clay.” The song is powerful. It will make you step back from yourself and think about those that you love. The album closes in a similar vein with the reflective “I May Never.” A great reminder to enjoy the beauty that life has to offer: the sights, the sounds, the feelings, and the love.

Waterloo, Tennesee is an outstanding album, not just of bluegrass music, but music in general. Play it for someone who says, they “don’t like bluegrass” because if they can still make that claim after listening to it, what they mean is they “don’t like great music.”