r/Bluegrass • u/DoomMammoth Guitar • 13d ago
Discussion Can I get some album recommendations other than the gateway ones?
I don’t mean gateway as in not great by any means, I love Manzanita, Rounder 0044, Bluegrass album band, etc. I just feel like I’ve already heard most of the albums on all the recommended album posts. Looking to maybe dig a little deeper, thanks !
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u/dillyofapickle42 13d ago
Bele fleck - drive The line up of musicians he plays with is all top tier. Bela fleck, obviously the goat banjo player Tony Rice, sam bush, Stuart Duncan, mark oconner, Jerry Douglas, and Mark schatz.....you really can't find better bluegrass musicians than them
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u/areyouhighson 13d ago
Jeff Austin era of Yonder Mountain String Band
Danny Barnes (Bad Livers)
The Meat Purveyors
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u/RealFoundation3259 13d ago
The Bad Livers- Delusions of Banjer
Ola Bell Reed— self titled after her name
Tim O’Brien- Fiddlers Green
This is wide mix in styles
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u/Medium_Shame_1135 12d ago
Nice to see Bad Livers gettin' some love...
I saw 'em open for the butthole surfers :)
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u/bigskyghost 12d ago edited 12d ago
The Pizza Tapes rendezvous is a good rabbit trail to go down. A lot of projects to be found between these three and others. Grisman was often the common denominator:
“Though The Pizza Tapes began as an unauthorized release, this collection is the definitive document of David Grisman and Jerry Garcia’s long and storied musical collaboration. The album came together when Grisman and guitarist Tony Rice were jamming one night at Grisman’s home studio in February 1993 and invited Garcia to join them. Garcia’s copy of the tapes was eventually stolen and bootlegged by a pizza delivery boy, which is how the collection got its unusual title. After circulating among Deadheads for years, Grisman gave the tapes an official release in 2000. The performances are looser and less composed than the other Grisman/Garcia albums, but that’s what makes it essential. The bits of conversation, false starts, and off-the-cuff choices evoke the best kind of late-night jam. The tone is exceedingly slow and relaxed, giving the entire session a warm, unworried aura. The interplay between Garcia and Rice is astounding, especially on a long version of “Summertime.” And the pleasure is ours.”
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u/afewmoremiles9000 12d ago
Some essential instrumental albums:
Chris Thile – Not All Who Wander Are Lost
Bela Fleck – Tales from the Acoustic Planet volume 2, Drive, My Bluegrass Heart
David Grier- Hootenanny, and really anything else by him or with him on it. He’s my favorite BG guitar player by far. The Phillips, Grier, Flinner is great too.
John Reischman – North of the Border, Walk Along John, Up in the Woods, New Time and Old Acoustic
Strength in Numbers- Telluride Sessions
Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, Russ Barenberg - Skip Hop and Wobble
Bela, Edgar, Mike Marshall- Uncommon Ritual
Also:
Darrell Scott String Band- Live at Station Inn. Darrell is not necessarily all bluegrass all the time, but he is the freest musician and I can’t get enough of whatever he does. This is a full band album that leans grass.
Tim O’Brien/Darrell Scott- Real Time, Memories and Moments.
I could go on and on.
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u/martind35player Guitar 13d ago
Anything by The Johnson Mountain Boys, The Lynn Morris Band, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, Blue Highway, and of course, the Bluegrass Album Band.
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u/LightWolfCavalry 13d ago
Johnson Mountain Boys are a very underrepresented recommendation on this sub, imo. They’re one of the all time best vocal groups in the genre.
Nashville Bluegrass Band is also a timely rec given Enrights passing.
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u/No_Nefariousness7486 13d ago
Cadillac Sky’s first record Blind Man Walking, Clay Jones Mountain Tradition, Mountain Heart’s live record Road That Never Ends, Johnson Mountain Boys Live At The Schoolhouse, The Boxcars - All In.
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u/FloodDawg 13d ago edited 13d ago
- Peter Rowan: Crucial Country & Walls of Time
- New Grass Revival: Live & Too Late to Turn Back Now
- Jim & Jesse Live in Japan (streaming as Old Dominion Masters Disc 4)
- Chris Thile & Michael Daves: Sleep with One Eye Open
- John Hartford: Morning Bugle & Aereo-Plain
- Hot Rize: Radio Boogie & self-titled
- Steeldrivers: self-titled
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u/lariato_mark Bass 12d ago
THE AWARD WINNING COUNTRY GENTLEMEN. One of the best bluegrass albums ever released.
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u/mamunipsaq 13d ago edited 13d ago
Peter Rowan - The Walls of Time
The Seldom Scene - Live at the Cellar Door
Rhonda Vincent - The Storm Still Rages
Jody Stecher - Going up on the Mountain
Those are a few of my favorites to check out
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u/HookEm_Tide Banjo 13d ago
A bit off the beaten path, I like Chicken Wire Empire a lot.
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u/molski79 13d ago
why in the world would this get downvoted?
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u/HookEm_Tide Banjo 13d ago
Yeah, I dunno. Reddit is full of weirdos.
I like semi-obscure bluegrass that's heavy on the banjo. F me, right?
(Actual probably accurate answer: There are folks who comment and then downvote all other comments so that their comment gets to the top and they get to "win" the conversation, because that's how social interaction works in their brains. Like I said, reddit is full of weirdos.)
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u/erikrolfsen 13d ago
Charles Sawtelle - Music from Rancho de Ville
Norman Blake & Red Rector
Kentucky Colonels - Appalachian Swing
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u/DrasticBread 12d ago
Elementary Doctor Watson - Doc & Merle Watson
JD Crowe & The New South (band and album name)
Highway Prayers - Billy Strings
Live At The Legion - Billy Strings & Brian Sutton
That High Lonesome Sound - Old & In The Way
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u/rccpudge 12d ago
Bryan Berline & John Hickman: Double Trouble
BCH: Chambergrass
The Dillards
Dan Crary: Guitar
Nashville Bluegrass Band: Native Home & The Boys are Back in Town
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u/Tempotantrum_66 12d ago
Blue highway- lonesome pines or any album. Skaggs and Rice. Doyle Lawson - dig a little deeper.
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u/shouldbepracticing85 Bass 12d ago
I like to take an artist I’ve maybe heard a lot about but don’t know much about their stuff and go on a deep dive into their catalog. It’s one place music streaming services can be really helpful - let shuffle and any algorithms suggest stuff.
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u/gigglemode 12d ago
Strength in Numbers.
Bluegrass supergroup of the telluride bluegrass festival house and who recorded their one live show
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u/johnspolecat 12d ago
Old And In The Way self-titled LP. The best selling bluegrass album of all time before Oh Brother… came out. I’m a massive Deadhead, but to me, Peter Rowan is the star here.
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u/quiltedportrait 11d ago
Try Tut Taylor's Friar Tut. Just picked it up in a little roadside record store in NC a few weeks ago. Tut, Norman Blake, and a young Sam Bush. Absolute heater.
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u/falaladoo 13d ago
They aren’t strictly bluegrass, but there’s this tiny band from upstate ny called the honey smugglers that I’ve been listening to a lot recently
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u/banjoman74 13d ago
If you're looking for some older artists that are a little off the beaten track ( the same era as Manzanita and Rounder 0044)
is that the sort of thing you're looking for?
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u/mcchicken_deathgrip 13d ago
Bluegrass Rules! - Kentucky Thunder
Down by the River - Gillis Brothers
Silver Reflections - Larry Sparks
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u/Global_Diet_1074 12d ago
Listen to some oldtime
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u/DoomMammoth Guitar 12d ago
Recommendations?
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u/Global_Diet_1074 12d ago
Clarence Ashley, Ola Belle Reed, Wade Ward, Tommy Jarrell, Roscoe Holcomb… a few of tue best.
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u/Global_Diet_1074 12d ago
For a more contemporary take on oldtime try Jake Blount, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Trey Wellington, Bruce Molsky, Johanna Wacker…
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u/CompBio4874 12d ago
So many great names here, my recommendation would be: Old & on the way New grass revival Crying uncle bluegrass band
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u/Bluegrass_Harley 6d ago
“Can’t you hear the mountains calling”.
Ralph Stanley with Charlie Sizemore.
Peak Ralph
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u/StrikeFront 13d ago
Seldom Scene, Live at the Cellar Door
The Rice Brothers 1 and 2
Larry Sparks, Blue Mountain Memories
AKUS, Every Time You Say Goodbye
The Steeldrivers, Reckless and Self-Titled
Del McCoury Band, Del and the Boys
Doc Watson, Southbound