Updates

• Added info on Jimmy Ford, thanks to Volker Houghton. • Extended and corrected the post on Happy Harold Thaxton (long overdue), thanks to everyone who sent in memories and information! • Added information to the Jim Murray post, provided by Mike Doyle, Dennis Rogers, and Marty Scarbrough. • Expanded the information on Charlie Dial found in the Little Shoe post.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Barn Dance review


If Charlie Poole or Fiddlin' Doc Roberts would have used recording equipment by today's standards, listen to this album and you know what it would have sounded like. "Barn Dance" by Little Black Train is an album full of authentic, traditional old-time music right from the mountains. In the same category as the Black Twig Pickers, Little Black Train covered a lot of old tunes by familiar rural mountain artists.

The album kicks off with a rendition of Dick Justice's "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" variation entitled "Old Black Dog," a lively and well-sounding track which surely let the listener expect more. "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down" is a rough and rural Southern gospel song, while the title track "Barn Dance" takes you into an old barn to enjoy the music of a string band playing on an old fashioned barn dance. The track list includes more gems. On "California Blues," Little Black Train replaces the jazzy accompanimen of the original Jimmie Rodgers recording with a more traditional Bluegrass arrangement. Another highlight is their version of the Carter Family's beautiful "Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow." Reading the track list will offer you versions of some of old-time music's most influential and successful artists' songs. It presents American music's roots.

"Barn Dance" is definitely an album with great titles. Listening to this album will take you into the deep South of the 1920s. A band to watch and an album to recommend.


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