bluegrass
Red Allen und Frank Wakefield – Bluegrass 1964
I have recently found an interview with David Grisman (Live on the Jake Feinberg Show) where he talked about the recording of the Bluegrass Album with Red Allen and Frank Wakefield in 1964. He later talks about his projects with Jerry Garcia.
This interview inspired me to look back to the early 1960s and how Bluegrass was like then.
The album was produced for Smithsonian Folkways Records. Grisman (born in 1945) was just 19 years old when he produced this record. Wakefield had a great influence to Grisman who says the he learned alle tha mandolin solos a played by Frank Wakefield.
Smithsonian Folkways about Red Allen & Frank Wakefield
Allen and Wakefield’s music ranges from strictly traditional songs like “Little Maggie” to pieces introduced by Bill Monroe to sacred material, all with their hallmark close harmonies and tight instrumental backing. Like Monroe and Roscoe Holcomb, Allen’s voice embodies the “high lonesome” sound.
Grisman had invited Red Allen and Frank Wakefield to play a concert at the Carnegie Hall before.
Bluegrass (1964) – Red Allen und Frank Wakefield
David Grisman especially was inspired by a song from the album “Mountain Music Bluegrass Style” – The White House Blues by Earl Taylor and the Stoney Mountain Boys. They had to drive to New York to buy records like this. He says abou when he listened to this song for the very first time: “That changed my life”
White House Blues
Album – Mountain Music Bluegrass Style (Smithsonian)
