The two-CD 2002
Greenbriar Boys
compilation,
Best of the Vanguard Years
, rounded up the large majority of songs the group released on the
Vanguard
label in the 1960s. Although it doesn't say so in the liner notes,
Big Apple Bluegrass
seems to gather every additional scrap the band cut for the company between 1961 and 1966, as none of the 17 songs appeared on
. These tracks include various cuts from their three proper
LPs (
The Greenbriar Boys
,
Ragged but Right!
, and
Better Late Than Never
) that didn't make it onto
, a track each that had previously appeared on the various-artists compilations
The Sound of Folk Music, Vol. 2
and
The New Folks
, and no less than seven previously unreleased cuts from studio outtakes and rehearsal sessions (five of them outtakes from their 1962 self-titled debut LP). While this might be a roundup of leftovers, actually the quality's about the same as it is on
. It's top-notch
bluegrass
, and only the absence of what turned out to be their most famous recording, the original version of
Michael Nesmith
's
"Different Drum"
(later recorded for a big hit by
Linda Ronstadt
with
the Stone Poneys
), might make this a less preferable introductory anthology than
. Certainly the outtakes don't disgrace their legacy, with
"Mississippi Sawyer"
being a really hot, fast-paced instrumental and
"Danville Girl"
"Shine on Me"
doleful
country-folk
tunes. Most of the material is
traditional
, though the covers of
country
songs by
George Jones
(
"Love Bug"
) and
Jim Reeves
"Honky Tonk Girl"
), both from 1966's
, show them expanding into the
contemporary country
repertoire with satisfactory results. ~ Richie Unterberger