| Bluegrass Hootenanny | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1964 | |||
| Recorded | January 1964 | |||
| Studio | Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Label | United Artists | |||
| Producer | Pappy Daily | |||
| George Jones chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Melba Montgomery chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
Bluegrass Hootenanny is an album by American country music artists George Jones and Melba Montgomery released in 1964 on the United Artists Records.
Bluegrass Hootenanny was the second duet album by Jones and Montgomery, the first being the bluegrass-tinged What's in Our Heart. As the title implies, this second Jones/Montgomery collection brings this sound into focus, a departure of sorts for Jones, who was known primarily for his hardcore honky tonk sound and soulful ballad singing. The album features several bluegrass interpretations of classic country songs written by Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, and Hank Williams. Jones co-wrote two songs with Johnny Mathis, the rollicking "Jump in the Mississippi" and the plaintive "I'd Dreamed My Baby Came Home", while "Will There Ever Be Another" and "I'll Be There to Welcome You Home" were co-written by Montgomery. The album was a hit, reaching number 12 on the country albums chart.
Jones and Montgomery did tour together, with Jones confessing in his autobiography I Lived to Tell It All, "My affections for Melba surfaced almost immediately after we began working. But my drunkenness and the fact that I had a wife did little to make her want to commit to me." Jones also divulged that he had asked her to marry him but Montgomery had begun a relationship with Jones' guitar player Jack Solomon, who she later married.
William Smith Monroe was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, and created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Bluegrass".
Earl Eugene Scruggs was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finger style of playing was radically different from the traditional way the five-string banjo had previously been played. This new style of playing became popular and elevated the banjo from its previous role as a background rhythm instrument to featured solo status. He popularized the instrument across several genres of music.
John Marty Stuart is an American country and bluegrass music singer, songwriter, and musician. Active since 1968, Stuart initially toured with Lester Flatt, and then in Johnny Cash's road band before beginning work as a solo artist in the early 1980s. He is known for his combination of rockabilly, country rock, and bluegrass music influences, his frequent collaborations and cover songs, and his distinctive stage dress.
"Foggy Mountain Breakdown" is a bluegrass instrumental, in the common "breakdown" format, written by Earl Scruggs and first recorded on December 11, 1949, by the bluegrass artists Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys. It is a standard in the bluegrass repertoire. The 1949 recording features Scruggs playing a five-string banjo.
Country USA was a 23-volume series issued by Time-Life Music during the late 1980s and early 1990s, spotlighting country music of the 1950s through early 1970s.
Melba Joyce Montgomery is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for a series of duet recordings made with George Jones, Gene Pitney and Charlie Louvin. She is also a solo artist, having reached the top of the country charts in 1974 with the song, "No Charge". Born in Tennessee but raised in Alabama, Montgomery had a musical upbringing. Along with her two brothers, she placed in a talent contest which brought her to the attention of Roy Acuff. For several years she toured the country as part of his band until she signed with United Artists Records in 1963.
The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Country Music was a multi-volume set of recordings released by the Smithsonian Institution. Released in 1981, the collection contains 143 tracks deemed to be significantly important to the history of country music.
New Country Hits is an album by American country music artist George Jones. It was released in 1965 on the Musicor Records label.
Famous Country Duets is an album by American country music artist George Jones with Gene Pitney and Melba Montgomery. This album was released in 1965 on the Musicor Records label.
What's in Our Heart is an album by American country music artists George Jones and Melba Montgomery released in 1963 on United Artists Records.
I Wish Tonight Would Never End is an album by American country music artist George Jones. It was released in 1963 on the United Artists record label.
Roland Joseph White was an American bluegrass music artist, performing principally on the mandolin. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017.
CMH Records is a Los Angeles-based, independent country and bluegrass label with several subsidiary labels, including Vitamin Records, Crosscheck, Dwell, and Rockabye Baby!. The label release diverse styles of music including string quartet tributes, punk, metal, and lullabies.
Bluegrass Album, Vol. 3 — California Connection is a third album by bluegrass supergroup, Bluegrass Album Band, released in 1983. Dobroist Jerry Douglas is added to the line-up and the band includes some more country-rock to the mix, but the most part of the album consists of classics by Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.
Live at The Cellar Door is a live album by American progressive bluegrass band The Seldom Scene. The Washington Post called it "not only a landmark for the progressive bluegrass scene that originated here in Washington, but may be the band's finest representation on disc."
Once upon a Time is the sixth studio album of country/bluegrass singer Marty Stuart. The album is mostly acoustic, featuring mainly bluegrass songs and Marty Stuart's mandolin. It is a retrospective of Stuart's teenage work during his time with Lester Flatt and Nashville Grass; the All Music Guide to Country describes the album as "certainly a special compilation" of a "true musical treasure" that "documents the early years and provides a glimpse into the development of an artist of character and quality."
Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947 is an album by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, released through Skaggs Family Records on March 25, 2008. In 2009, the album won the group the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. This album provides as a tribute to the father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe, along with other bluegrass pioneers, including Lester Flatt, and Earl Scruggs, who made a guest appearance on this album, at 85 years old when the project was recorded.
Please Be My Love is a duet by George Jones and Melba Montgomery. It was composed by Carl Sauceman and Monroe Fields and originally recorded by Carl Sauceman and The Green Valley Boys in 1960. This was Jones and Montgomery's third single but it was only a minor hit, peaking at #31 on the Billboard country singles chart. Like many Jones/Montgomery recordings, the song has a distinct bluegrass flavor, which was atypical for Jones. Although they would release several more singles together, Jones and Montgomery would never again achieve the success they had with their Top 5 smash 1963 smash "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds".
Hank Wilson's Back Vol. I is an album by singer and songwriter Leon Russell singing as Hank Wilson. The UK edition has a banner printed on the front of the sleeve to the right of Russell's stetson saying "Leon Russell!", presumably as a marketing initiative to promote the album using the strength of Russell's name.
