V/A - Berkshire Mountains Bluegrass Festival

Collectors Edition

(Pigeon Roost P RR 001) 1985

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This double LP set features performances from 1976 - 1984, from the Berkshire Mountains Bluegrass Festival near Hillsdale, NY.^[1]

Two of Ralph's appearances are represented. From 1977, there's Oh Death with the Keith Whitley/Troy 'Renfro' Profitt line-up. Since 'Oh Brother' this tune has taken on a life of it's own... but I think this is probably the most soulful version I've heard.

From 1980, there's a rare live version of Whiskey, originally cut by The Stanley Brothers in 1963 and which Ralph and Ralph Mayo couldn't ever recall playing it before on stage. Here it's done as a request for Nancy Talbot, one of the festival organisers, with Charlie Sizemore handling the vocals/recitation.

Ralph is also featured as a guest with Jimmy Martin (again from 1980) singing Rabbit In A Log...

The rest of the material covers quite a wide spectrum of acoustic music, with some fantastic flat-picking from Dan Crary, sublime harmonies from The Seldom Scene, and two of Peter Rowan's dope classics. Add in Don Stover, Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, Don Reno, Red Allen, J.D. Crowe... and it's defintely one to watch out for!

There's also a fab recording of one of Ralph's Berkshire 1977 performances and a 1980 Banjo workshop available at Fred Robbins' site.^[2]

Other artwork / related images:

[1] The Johnson Mountain Boys track was recorded at a club performance at another venue, as there was a technical fault on the Berkshire tapes.
[2] http://frobbi.org/audio/stanleyberkshire77.html
and http://frobbi.org/audio/stanleyworkshop.html