Legends of Old-Time Music: Fifty Years of

This is a seminal old time music collection that came out decades ago, back in the days when vinyl was all there was, and individual albums which exist for many of the great artists did not exist. As such the selections here have played a role in defining the repertoire of what old time music revivalists have played in the 40 or so years since this came out, because this was out there when nothing else was, and downloads and you tubes, and all of this did not exist.In addition, this is pretty great music. Explore it and own it,If this collection had been put together today, African American old time musicians like the Thompson Brothers, Dink Roberts, the Gribble, Lusk York band, and Syd Hemphill's band would be represented. Please investigate Black fiddle and old time music too,If you like artists that appear here, you may be able to find free for the download versions of their other work, particularly on the Digital Library of Appalachia,

This is a great learning tool for students of "old time" music and aspiring clawhammer-style banjo players.

The Virginia-based independent label County Records was founded in the early 1960s by Dave Freeman and by 1968 he was joined by two fellow passionate record collectors Charles Faurot and Rich Nevins (the later who went on to found Shanachie Records). Together they recorded multiple generations of performers on Lps and later on CDs. For the 50th year anniversary a box set was (apparently) planned (based on the date of the “Introduction” to this set by Kinney Rorrer (dated 2011). Faurot died in 2013 (I’m told he was in ill health) and so it took till 2015 for the set to finally see the light, with collector/producer/audio engineer Christopher King, finishing the project as co-producer.There are 113 tracks on the four CDs in the set and the recordings go back to 1965. Thirty of the tracks are being heard by the public for the first time and most of the others were (until now) only available on LP.While some names were familiar to me – Tommy Jarrell, Lily Mae Ledford, Clark Kessinger – there are many performers (individuals, duos and bands) new to me. No these are not old 78rpm recordings being reissued so the concept of surface noise is not an issue as on some “old time releases”. The sound is great. The CDs come packed in a box the size of a 12-inch LP and inside is a 12x12inch 28 page book containing the aforementioned “Introduction” by Rorrer and bios of the artists. After each artist are track notes of that artist’s recordings. The track notes are listed by artist in alphabetical order, which I found a bit confusing as I listened to the CDs. Yes the listing – in track order – is on the back of each CD, as well as on the back of the box, but I had to keep jumping back and forth to read about the tracks as I listened. A minor gripe (and it may not bother others) but I thought I’d mention it since it is the ONLY thing that was less than ideal.It’s important to support small independent labels. Like County and if you are a fan of old-time fiddlers, string bands, banjo and mandolin players, you’ll definitely be pleased with this project. I know I am.I hope you found this review both informative and helpful.Steve Ramm“Anything Phonographic”

Somewhere there should be some reference to the fact that most of these performances are instrumental. The playing is terrific, impeccable at times but certainly worth mentioning that vocals are NOT a main part of the presentation. The booklet is also in need of editing and the order of its presentation is bewildering at best. I really wanted to love this having been so pleased by full releases on this label and similar presentations by other labels by Alligator, the Smithsonian and Arhoolie. This one deserved better.