San Francisco, 1978. One wonders if Bill and the Boys got hold of whatever it is that makes San Francisco sourdough the best in the world. I think Butch Robins may have something to say about that in his tell-all book, “What I Know ‘Bout What I Know”, but I digress ….

What a fizzy, exuberant performance this is; not at all like the original. The tempo is almost too fast. As singers, the Blue Grass Boys just barely keep up to tempo, but as instrumentalists, they’re in their element. Kenny Baker’s fiddle improvisations on the the melody are wildly inventive, and Robins’s picking walks the line between traditional Scruggs style and the melodic style popularized by former Blue Grass Boy, Bill Keith.

Through it all, Wayne Lewis’s lead singing is as rock-solid as it is soulful. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Lewis is the best bluegrass singer you never heard.

This is Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, with “Walking In Jerusalem (Just Like John).