first gained notice as a protege of 's , who produced and played guitar on his debut album and brought along bandmate to play drums and mandolin. The album had much of the rustic Southern charm and rollicking of . 's other immediate appeal was a certain sense of mystery. A Southern American expatriate living in Canada, he was unable to appear in the U.S. to promote the album, which was released in a fold-out LP jacket that featured the same sepia-toned portrait (which looked like one of those austere photos from the Civil War era) on each of its four sides. emphasized the dichotomy between his southern origins and his northern exile in songs like (which co-wrote), ("I've a sadness too sad to be true"), and was timely: it spoke to a disaffected American generation that sympathized with 's pacifism. But it was also timeless: the songs revealed a powerful writing talent (recognized by the numerous artists who covered them), and 's gentle vocals made a wonderful vehicle for delivering them. [Originally released by in 1970, was reissued by in 1976, in 1988 by / , in 1994 by , and in 2006 by .] ~ William Ruhlmann