Earl Scruggs - His Family and Friends (ft. Byrds, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Doc Watson)

Another criminally underrated out of print album from Earl Scruggs. This is the one people.....this album is fantastic. Recorded in 1969 for a television documentary, not released on vinyl till 1971. This album is where that Byrds clip a few posts back came from. At the time Earl's son Randy was still in high school, of which there are some humerous soundbites about during his performance of Black Mountain Rag. Features such heavyweights as Doc Watson, The Byrds, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan (though he doesn't sing). If you are a fan of the Dirt Band's "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" album.....this is right up your alley. And besides, where else are you gonna hear 1. foggy mt. breakdown played on a synthesizer, and 2. Earl Scruggs speak out against the Vietnam war?

There is a DVD available of this (Get the DVD here) that I will surely be getting. You can watch the trailer here (sorry, embedding was disallowed)

1. Nine Pound Hammer
2. Lonesome Ruben
3. My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountain (with Joan Baez)
4. Love is Just a Four Letter Word (with Joan Baez)
5. The Last Thing On My Mind (with Doc Watson)
6. Streamlined Cannonball (with Doc Watson)
7. Nashville Skyline Rag (with Bob Dylan)
8. Foggy Mountain Breakdown (with Gil Tryhall)
9. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (with The Byrds)
10. Nothin' To It (with The Byrds)
11. Salty Dog Blues (with The Morris Brothers)
12. On Top Of Old Smokey (with The Morris Brothers)
13. Black Mountain Rag (Randy Scruggs)
14. Foggy Mountain Breakdown

MP3
Earl Scruggs - His Family and Friends

The Byrds - 8 Miles High in Amsterdam 7-7-70

This is a killer, killer boot. Amazingly, I couldn't find any artwork for it, so I had to whip some up real quick. The sound quality on this one is amazing, almost as good as the "fillmore" album. Fantastic set too. The only downsides are the radio station identifiers that pop up seemingly randomly throughout.....I can live with it though, cause this is the best Byrds boot I believe I've heard. Features my favorite era of the Byrds too.....the one right after Gram Parsons with Clarence White and Gene Parsons.

MP3

The Byrds - 8 Miles High In Amsterdam

This is what it's all about folks...

The Byrds & The Earl Scruggs Revue playing Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere". If this clip doesn't define country-rock, then I don't know what does. I mean the mighty Clarence White on B-Bender plus the immortal Earl Scruggs on 5-string.....!!!!! Amazing!!!!.
If you've never heard of The Earl Scruggs Revue, it was Scruggs' band with his sons in the early 70's. They were (gasp..) a "bunch of longhairs". They made a few great albums back then, most notably Anniversary Vol.1 & Vol. 2 which featured a plethora of guests similar to Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's masterpiece of an album (that may be an understatement) "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". Only here's the twist, instead of a bunch of hippies enlisting bluegrass legends, they were bluegrass legends enlisting hippies. People like McGuin, Loudon Wainwright III, Charlie Daniels, Johnny Cash, Buffy Saint-Marie, & legendary producer Bob Johnston. A highly reccomended album if you enjoy this clip.

Manassas - Live in Amsterdam 1972

I'm pulling this from another blog, I found it in the archives a while back.....and man this is just a phenomenal bootleg. Manassas was a vastly under-rated country rock band consisting of most notably, the mighty Stephen Stills and Chris Hillman (ex-byrd, founding member of the burrito brothers) . This is their inaugural concert as the band Manassas according to the insert (which is not in the download, but can be found here). They run through some of the Manassas songs, some Stills songs, some CSNY songs and even a Byrds song, aBurritos song, and a Buffalo Springfield song. Download this if you like vintage country rock sounds, you will not be dissapointed. (and a thanks to Zen Archer @ The Clock That Went Backwards for this one)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manassas_(band)

Manassas - Live In Amsterdam 1972