Across the Blue Ridge #137 - Two Youthful Bands Evoke Classic Sounds Of The Past With New Interpretations

This week we enjoy a selection of powerful traditional old time, pre-bluegrass and bluegrass music.  As we take a little tour of the evolution of bluegrass from old-time mountain music, gospel and blues, we encounter two new bands that seriously honor the old traditions without smothering them.

High Fidelity has just released an album on Rebel Records, and the band has been getting great reviews since 2016.  We hear selections from the album, The Hills of Home, plus some of the group's heroes from the first generation of bluegrass.  

Steam Machine brings a broad repertoire of old-time and bluegrass songs and tunes to its new album – with a distinct Midwest accent including melody-strong, long bow fiddling from A.J. Srubas and three-finger banjo picking from Aaron Tacke that straddles the line between bluegrass and down-home old-time square dance music.

Along the way, you'll hear the connections among traditions and find excitement in understanding the similarities among styles and musical sensibilities of Americans in the mid-Atlantic, the southern mountains and the Midwest, from European and African ancestry.

Playlist

1. Waves On The Ocean
   New Ballard's Branch Bogtrotters
   Bogtrotter Blues
   New Ballard's Branch Bogtrotters
    
2. Cotillion
   Emmett Lundy
   Library of Congress Recording
   Library of Congress
    
3. Richmond
   Mike Seeger
   Old Time Country Music
   Folkways
    
4. Stillhouse
   Kevin Fore & band
   Round Peak, The Tradition Continues
   Heritage
    
5. Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow
   Pine Ridge Boys & Patsy
   Stringband Music From Mount Airy
   Heritage
    
6. Scraps From Your Table
   Lynn Morris Band
   You'll Never Be The Sun
   Rounder
    
7. Durang's Hornpipe
   Roan Mountain Hilltoppers
   Down Home
   Roan Mountain Hilltoppers
    
8. Break 1 - The Big Scioty
   Matt Brown & Greg Reisch
   Speed Of The Plow
   Matt Brown & Greg Reisch
    
9. On Some Foggy Mountain Top
   Monroe Brothers
   Volume 1
   BMG Rounder Select
    
10. You've Been A Friend To Me
    Carter Family
    Volume 2: 1935-41
    Country Classics
     
11. Forsaken Love
    Flatt & Scruggs with Mother Maybelle Carter
    Songs Of The Famous Carter Family
    Columbia
     
12. I'm Gonna Settle Down
    Flatt & Scruggs
    1948-59 Volume 2
    Bear Family
     
13. The Hills & Home
    High Fidelity
    Hills and Home
    Rebel
     
14. My Savior's Train
    High Fidelity
    Hills and Home
    Rebel
     
15. Gray Eagle
    High Fidelity
    Hills and Home
    Rebel
     
16. Break 2 - Durham's Reel
    Lyman Enloe
    Fiddle Tunes I Recall
    County
     
17. Birdie
    Steam Machine
    Steam Machine
    Steam Machine
     
18. This World Can't Stand Long
    Steam Machine
    Steam Machine
    Steam Machine
     
19. Steam Machine
    Garry Harrison & The Mule Team
    Red Prairie Dawn
    Garry Harrison
     
20. Fourteen Days In Georgia
    Lyman Enloe
    Fiddle Tunes I Recall
    County
     
21. Back in '89
    Steam Machine
    Steam Machine
    Steam Machine
     
22. Sail Away Ladies
    Kenny Baker
    Baker's Dozen
    County