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Best Loved Bluegrass: 20 All-Time Favorites

Various Artists
1 disc

1. Nine Pound Hammer - Tony Rice/Various Artists
2. John Henry - Don Stover/The Lilly Brothers/Various Artists
3. Bringing Mary Home - The Country Gentlemen/Various Artists
4. Wabash Cannonball - Claire Lynch/Various Artists
5. White House Blues - Del McCoury/Various Artists
6. Footprints in the Snow - Mac Wiseman/Various Artists
7. Atlanta Is Burning - The Boys from Indiana/Various Artists
8. Fireball Mail - The Lonesome River Band/Various Artists
9. Fox on the Run - Emerson & Waldron/Various Artists
10. Poor Ellen Smith - Southern Mountain Boys/Ted Lundy/Various Artists
11. Love of the Mountains - The Lost & Found/Various Artists
12. Darling Corey - The Seldom Scene/Various Artists
13. Little Glass of Wine - Ralph Stanley/Various Artists
14. Train 45 - J.D. Crowe/Various Artists
15. Little Rosewood Casket - Don Reno/Red Smiley/Various Artists
16. Pig in a Pen - The Stanley Brothers/Various Artists
17. Dream of a Miner's Child - Keith Whitley/Ricky Skaggs/Various Artists
18. Down in the Willow Garden - Dave Evans/Various Artists
19. Roving Gambler - Larry Sparks/Various Artists
20. Lonesome Road Blues - Happy Smith/Larry Richardson/Various Artists
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 118004
Credits

Producer David Freeman (Compilation)
Engineer
Audio Remasterer: David Glasser.
Best Loved Bluegrass is a 20-song collection of bluegrass songs and instrumentals from well-known and nearly forgotten pickers of the '60s and '70s. And while Keith Whitely may be better remembered today as a country singer, and the Boys from Indiana as a long-disbanded group, all of these musicians were "players" in their time. The selections include traditional material like Ted Lundy & the Southern Mountain Boys' "Poor Ellen Smith," more progressive cuts like the Seldom Scene's "Darling Corey," old-time-flavored cuts by Ralph Stanley and the Stanley Brothers, and early rustic cuts by Del McCoury ("The White House Blues," about President McKinley's assassination, is excellent). There's a lot of good music on Best Loved Bluegrass, though the liner notes offer little information on the origins of the recordings. In this sense, this collection of odds and ends seems to offer no more than a casual collection for a casual fan. The difference, however, is that the Rebel label was on the forefront of the bluegrass scene during the '60s and '70s. For anyone who fondly remembers the early work of Larry Sparks, the Country Gentlemen, and the Seldom Scene, Best Loved Bluegrass is a high-quality collection for hardcore bluegrass fans. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
Critic Reviews

Dirty Linen (p.77) - "[With] some of bluegrass' greatest gems....'Bringing Mary Home' is a tradition-based ghost ballad. Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggas' brother duet, 'Dream of a Miner's Child,' is equally haunting."