There are many Stanley Brothers shows on YouTube, but the picking in this one is especially dazzling.

Guitarist George Shuffler had worked with Jim and Jesse prior to joining The Stanleys. Shuffler had been fascinated with Jesse McReynolds’s crosspicking, in which Jesse mimicked Earl Scruggs’s three-finger banjo style on mandolin. Shuffler’s goal was to transfer that crosspicking technique to the guitar, and the results had a lasting effect on the art of bluegrass guitar.

The picking isn’t the only highlight. Carter and Ralph turn in gorgeous, yearning vocals on “Shenandoah Waltz” and, especially, “Your Old Love Letters”. In his solo spot, George Shuffler redeems “On Top Of Old Smokey” from the awful children’s version with more verses and a story for grownups.

Ralph seems to be racing an avalanche in this set. His rattletrap take on “Big Tildy” and his bracing kickoff to “Ridin’ That Midnight Train” will make you sit up and take notice.

These are The Stanley Brothers at Oak Leaf Park in Luray, VA.

 

Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs -- The Magical Years

Is it any wonder people went crazy for this band?

From the magical years of 1946-1948, here’s the band that many consider to be the ultimate bluegrass band – Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise, and Cedric Rainwater – in some transcriptions from their Grand Ole Opry shows.

The sound quality of this clip is, frankly, terrible. But the enjoyment these musicians derive from making music, as well as the excellent tone and crispness of their playing, comes through loud and clear.

Here are Earl Scruggs and Benny Martin (For some reason, that's fiddler Art Wooten in the photo) with “Billy In the Low Ground”.

Well, this is an interesting curio – a complaint about the lack of country music on the jukebox from one of the genre’s most prolific songwriters. It gets richer: He’s backed by the man who left a successful country music act to play banjo-inflected rock with his sons.

Greatly informed by a very country version of “Old Joe Clark”, this is “There Ain’t No Country Music” by Tom T. Hall and Earl Scruggs. In the last chorus, Tom T name-checks Flatt and Scruggs while he’s listing all the country music he can’t find, hearkening back to a time when bluegrass was all the country music there was.

Stringbean and Earl Scruggs. Clawhammer style and three-finger rolls. Bluegrass. Banjo dominance. Live.
Stringbean, funky mountain timing and all, joins Flatt and Scruggs to cover their former boss, Bill Monroe. Whether you’re a fan of bluegrass, old time, or both, I think you’ll like this version of “Rose of Old Kentucky”.