The final five years of the team of
Flatt & Scruggs
is documented on the six-CD
Bear Family
set
1964-1969, Plus
. Their final six recordings together are on a
Lester Flatt
box set on the same label (
Flatt on Victor Plus More
,
15975). Though the pair never referred to themselves as
bluegrass
musicians -- because of its association with their mentor,
Bill Monroe
-- they had a difficult time telling the ever-increasing flood of international fans just what it was they did. Certainly it was
folk
music, but not the
music of the
folk revival
of the late '50s and early '60s, and it was
country
music, though not what
Owen Bradley
and
Chet Atkins
was pushing through Nashville at the time, and while a lot of the music was rooted in
blues
gospel
, it couldn't be called that either.
were the progenitors of what later pioneers like
Tony Trischka
Randy Scruggs
Bela Fleck
, and others would call "
newgrass
" -- the pair wouldn't have liked that either. What this set documents is how the musical styles emerging in the 1960s were explored by
, were turned inside out, were popularized, and put enough pressure on the duo, musically and professionally because of increased fame, to tear them apart. Here are the recordings of
Waylon Jennings
'
"I'm a Man of Constant Sorrow"
(before
Ralph Stanley
cut it),
Bob Dylan
's
"It Ain't Me Babe,"
Tom Paxton
"The Last Thing on My Mind,"
Chuck Berry
"Memphis,"
"Foggy Mountain Breakdown"
done for the film
Bonnie & Clyde
traditional
songs like
"Sally Goodin,"
Mel Tillis
Danny Dill
"Detroit City,"
Tom T. Hall
"I'm Gonna Ride That Steamboat,"
John Sebastian
"Nashville Cats,"
Doc
Merle Watson
"Southbound,"
' amazing instrumental
"Jazzing."
But before the reader looks away in disgust, muttering "sellout," perhaps the music itself should be taken as an example of its own merit.
stood outside of tradition from the beginning by breaking with standard vocal and instrumentation regimens. Using four-part harmonies, drums, and harmonica on a
Dylan
song, the duo were merely doing what they had done throughout their careers -- they explored the roots of a song and discovered where it took them. Recording
Buffy Sainte-Marie
"Universal Soldier,"
Donovan
"Catch the Wind,"
"Wanted Man"
"Like a Rolling Stone,"
the
Hall
songs for the
soundtrack
, and
Bobbie Gentry
"Ode to Billie Joe"
were high-wire acts, cliff edges both men were looking over into an abyss that refused to stare back at them, and finally it separated them. But it was never for lack of an adventurous spirit of laziness or lack of respect. What is documented here may be the sound of disintegration, but it is also the sound of courage and preservation that brought the heart and soul of
music to popular music, not the other way around. ~ Thom Jurek