Chubby Anthony - Fiddlin' Chubby Anthony

With Big Timber Bluegrass

(Old Homestead OHS-90085) 1978

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This exquisite bluegrass fiddle album, was the first release for Chubby Anthony after he'd quit playing professionally in the late '60s.

Recorded at Patterson Studios in Winter Haven, Fl. in July 1976, it wasn't mixed until 12th Sept 1977, and presumably released in early 1978.

Frank J. Godbey, reviewing the album in 'Bluegrass Unlimited' Nov. 1978, hit the nail on the head:- "Chubby Anthony is a 'bluegrass' musician. His total effort is in the application of the fiddle... to 'bluegrass' music. This means several things to me: Blues - lonesome notes and mournful sounds, for one; complementing an ensemble for another; an impassioned attack with emphasis on rhythm and timing for yet another. All this and more is what Anthony gives us in this album of 'bluegrass' interpretations of some standard fiddle tunes.... Technically Anthony uses lots of double stops and slides and a very taut bow to get that wailing bluegrass sound. He is very much of the same school as Benny Martin or the late Scott Stoneman in the way he handles his instrument. There is a passion in his playing that would not come out if he played like Kenny Baker, for example.... as a fiddle album there may be others that, for some, would be more satisfactory, but as 'bluegrass' music this can't be beat."

Chubby was definitely one of the greatest fiddlers to play with The Clinch Mountain Boys. Like a lot of the Old Homestead recordings however, the pressing quality isn't particularly great. Also on one track, it sounds like the bass cuts out for part of the track... but as I've only found this album as an MP3 copy on the internet, I can't be sure whether the vinyl has the same fault.

• Chubby Anthony: fiddle
• Chuck Denmark: mandolin
• Ronnie Pert: guitar
• Steve Pruitt: banjo
• John Thompson: bass

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