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with greene, proper fiddle instrumentals include SOLDIER’S JOY, TURKEY IN THE STRAW (the only version, played as a semi gag), & ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL. greene takes mic a few times, no sideman. grisman asks, “any requests?” “let garcia sing!” garcia: “you had to go & say something.” but he does sing lead in response, 1st circulating version of traditional PIG IN A PEN (which he sang in the olde days) & a little later carter stanley’s WHITE DOVE. versions of both will be on live album. [3/5]

really, earliest circulating versions for almost everything: traditional WILLOW GARDEN & leon jackson’s LOVE PLEASE COME HOME (learned in the car, sez grisman), johnny bond’s I WONDER WHERE SHE IS TONIGHT, webster bros.’ TIL THE END OF THE WORLD ROLLS AROUND (sung by grisman), stanley bros.’ HOW MOUNTAIN GIRLS CAN LOVE (funnier, given JG’s spouse), mcreynolds bros.’ HARD HEARTED. #garciafreaksunite #jg041273 [4/5]

then, at the end of the tape, what sounds like 5-minute fragment of the band rehearsing BLUE MULE & grisman’s CEDAR HILL in the backyard of garcia’s house in stinson beach, the sound of the pacific in the distance. i think. [5/5]

@bourgwick Great stuff, JJ!

@mrcompletely the breadth/depth of their repertoire is knocking my socks off, never really grasped they did so many rowan songs nor how amazing they are. definitely have some further diving to do.

@bourgwick @mrcompletely The original album stands up so well. Was for good reason the best selling BG album of all time at some point (I remember hearing that when it was out-of-print scarce vinyl).

@adamopp @mrcompletely very influential, but a fun fact that i don't think is totally true. the "deliverance" soundtrack definitely sold more.

@bourgwick @adamopp those two and Will The Circle Be Unbroken all had massive impact with new and existing fans. Within bluegrass head circles JD Crowe & the New South/Rounder 0044 was at least as important as any, and Steam Powered has to be in there somewhere for that era (newgrass but before Dawg music)

@mrcompletely @bourgwick @adamopp Old And In The Way was oft cited in my interviews at Delfest for either bringing the Bluegrassers to The Dead or the Hippies to Bluegrass. A perfect and beloved interaction of two very different yet sympathetic scenes.

@rowjimmy @bourgwick @adamopp I grew up among the exact O&ITW demo: hippies and lefty labor radicals doing the back to the land thing, my mom's friends. I remember them picking these songs around the fire at yard parties and the album cover is the first one I remember: I have a clear image of it from what has to be right after it came out. In that group, it was this album and Will The Circle.

@mrcompletely @adamopp @rowjimmy @bourgwick I think the line about OAITW being the best selling bluegrass album of all time was made up out of thin air. No provenance, and in any case prior to soundscan how would anyone even know?

Ron Rakow or Rock Scully most likely the suspect.

@Corry342 @mrcompletely @rowjimmy @bourgwick Given that the sales claim predates the reissues, you are probably correct. I doubt that Round Records could have manufactured sufficient product to be "best selling" in any genre.

@bourgwick @Corry342 @mrcompletely @rowjimmy Poking around on discogs, I see now the first reissue was 1985 on Sugar Hill records. This was when I finally scored a copy. Before then the only available copies were $$ collectors items from the initial run. It is possible that Sugar Hill sold the crap out of 'em in the late '80s.

@adamopp @bourgwick @mrcompletely @rowjimmy I have never found any history of the quote--who said it originally?

@Corry342 @adamopp @mrcompletely @rowjimmy quickly surveying via google books & newspapers.com, & without checking the charts themselves, the earliest reference i see it being a best seller of any kind is 1989 & earliest ref to being *thee* best seller is 1990 (in the daily tar heel).

@bourgwick @Corry342 @mrcompletely @rowjimmy Would not be surprised if Dawg himself might have sprinkled his press packets with the unverified claim back in the day.

@adamopp @Corry342 @mrcompletely @rowjimmy interestingly, found a peter rowan profile from 1985 that cites his accomplishments for having songs on a best-selling NRPS album, but no mention of old & in the way being a best seller.

@mrcompletely @bourgwick @Corry342 @rowjimmy Does not hold up very well. Band sounded better on paper, imho.

@adamopp @bourgwick @Corry342 @rowjimmy Neither Red Rowan nor David Diadem gave us really convincing evidence of their eventually inarguable greatness before O&ITW

@mrcompletely @bourgwick @Corry342 @rowjimmy Come to think of it, getting some KGLW from this deep cut: https://youtu.be/MC-nj68X19c

@adamopp @mrcompletely @bourgwick @Corry342 I gripped both of their albums in the past few years and I think they’re better than the rep. May be due for a reappraisal or perhaps I’m just an easy audience.

@adamopp @bourgwick I'm not nearly the Hartford head most bluegrass hippies are. He's got a few songs I love but he's not a big part of my listening aside from the two great albums with Dave Holland - but any accounting of that era has to include him

@mrcompletely @adamopp @bourgwick I was late to Hartford as well… came to him through Norman Blake.

@rowjimmy @adamopp @bourgwick Blake is my guy. I ride for Norman in the most serious possible way. He's a towering figure in that scene but has always been in the background for most of the public

@mrcompletely @adamopp @bourgwick Likewise. Few artists have as great a presence in my collection as Blake outside from Garcia (obv). As a player, singer, and most importantly as a writer he blows me away on everything and I can always spot his touch.
I’ve even got a record so old he couldn’t clearly remember WHEN it happened, though he acknowledged that it’s him on that guitar as labeled.

@rowjimmy @adamopp @bourgwick two things blow me away about him above all. He can compose songs that truly sound like traditionals, and he can play very intricate parts so clean and perfect they sound much simpler than they really are. The result is music that seems almost supernatural to me at times

@mrcompletely @adamopp @bourgwick He’s a wizard.

@rowjimmy @mrcompletely @adamopp @bourgwick

Chiming in with two thoughts:

Norman Blake is a genius songwriter. There's a reason Tony Rice covered a significant number of his tunes (Church Street Blues, Ginseng Sullivan, etc.)

Hartford might be under appreciated because he was SO hard to define. You could argue he invented newgrass with the Aeroplane album. But then there's also this which has major Leonard Cohen vibes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nxfaXuD8qo

@aburtch @mrcompletely @adamopp @bourgwick Hartford was a savant and a gem and an ambassador for the intersection of hippie and bluegrass but his Nashville songwriter days can easily seem disconnected from all of that.

But people would definitely be depriving themselves if they skip that material. He was a terrific writer. LoHi Records dropped a nice tribute record a coupe years ago:

https://www.lohirecords.com/shop/various-artists-on-the-road-a-tribute-to-john-hartford/

@rowjimmy @aburtch @mrcompletely @adamopp i haven't gone fully down the newgrass path, but adore hartford's nashville stuff & especially this recent demos collection, 1965-1969. https://realgonemusic.com/products/john-hartford-backroads-rivers-memories-cd

@bourgwick @aburtch @mrcompletely @adamopp Another of the many exceptional intersections is Hartford, Blake, Tut Taylor, & Vassar all playing on Bromberg’s self-titled debut.

@fritz7784 @bourgwick yeah I saw them at the wow hall in 99, there's a gorgeous tape of it. Great pairing