Robert Byrd was a self-taught fiddler who learned traditional fiddle tunes while growing up in the hill country of West Virginia. Eventually, he became the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, and the longest-serving member of the Senate, but he never gave up playing the fiddle.
In 1977, Sen. Byrd recorded this album in his office, backed by members of The Country Gentlemen -- Doyle Lawson on guitar, James Bailey on banjo, and Spider Gilliam on bass.
The result was an album filled to the brim with true, traditional mountain music -- joyful, authentic, and totally raw. Some of the tracks are introduced by Sen. Byrd's anecdotes recounting the first time he heard these age-old tunes, the musicians he learned them from, and the places and occasions where they were played. It's fascinating stuff from a born raconteur.
The band jelled seamlessly, and it shows, especially on the instrumentals, "Forked Deer" and "Red Bird".
One of the most intriguing things about Mountain Fiddler is that Sen. Byrd provides a lead vocal on many songs that are played as instrumentals these days. "Cripple Creek", "Turkey In the Straw", "Old Joe Clark", and "Cumberland Gap" are among these.
Sen. Byrd's vocal delivery is just as raw and untutored as his fiddle playing on these songs. By contrast, he gives moving, inspired readings on story songs like "Wish I Had Stayed In the Wagon Yard", "Rye Whiskey", and the album's countrified standout, "Come Sundown She'll Be Gone".
Sen. Byrd also takes some bluegrass standards out for a spin, including "Don't Let Your Sweet Love Die", "There's More Pretty Girls Than One", "Roving Gambler", and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken".
Both old-time and bluegrass musics have largely strayed away from this sound, and lost a lot of their emotional impact in the process. Mountain Fiddler is a study in the real deal for musicians and fans of those genres.
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