Audio CD review:
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Shady Grove

Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Shady Grove

Band: Jerry Garcia & David Grisman Title: Shady Grove Rating: Release Date: 1996-10-15 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Shady Grove 2: Stealin' 3: Off to Sea Once More 4: The Sweet Sunny South 5: Louis Collins 6: Fair Ellender 7: Jack-A-Roo 8: Casey Jones 9: Dreadful Wind and Rain 10: I Truly Understand 11: The Handsome Cabin Boy 12: Whiskey in the Jar 13: Down in the Valley

Nice sound of a slightly hypnotic banjo, but not much else It's a nice sound, but at the half way through every song you start to wish there was something more to it. It's kind of hypnotic, the sound of that banjo. May be, if you could fall asleep in the middle of every song and then wake up just when it ends. . . Songs are lame. I didn't take notice on the lyrics, but don't believe there's anything special there either. In fact, in this whole album, there's nothing special there, except that nice sound of a banjo. All in all, it's pretty lame. Shady Grove,Fred Holstein and Others This is one huge CD if you are into Jerry G. Folks, I learned guitar playing Shady Grove. If you know his history, you must have this CD and have his "Old and In the Way" album. I consider this CD Jerry's attempt to get back to folk. Shoot, I still have his Guitar Player Magazine interview. In my opinion, Fred Holstein, now dead, his brother Ed, Pete Seegar, Claudia Schmidt, Myself, all did the same tunes on North Linclon in Chicago. I think Fred did a much better job on the tunes than Jerry does. Hey, that is folk music. Fred did all the tunes with the idea that the tunes should be played in original form, folk music. This CD is close to the performances I was at his bar in Chicago. Hey recall Steve Goodman????. Shady Grove Review this particular album is unique. Garcia and Grisman were superb together. Shady Grove If you likes The Grateful Dead and if you like bluegrass, then this is something you have to have. Pure Brilliance I count my album collection by the hundreds. My musical journey hasn't even reached a 2 digit number of years yet, but it's been quite profound so far. I really truly love all the albums I own, but I've been blown away by an album only so little times. (Nevermind, Dark side of the Moon, Blue, Moon Safari). Now - when I say blown away - I mean it. Literaly. Blown away, to me, means having to sit back and re-think everything you thought you knew about music and discovering a whole new genre, a new approach. Discovering you like something else. That's blown away, as far as I'm concerned. And this album definately blew the hell out of me. I remember hearing it for the first time, on some early morning train ride, that went through the sun, through the rain, and back to sun light again. From that first string pluck to that very last "truly obnoxious instrument" monolog, I was simply amazed. I never thought I'd like country music, or anything related to it, for that matter. And the whole atmosphere of the album - so relaxed, so free, so "we're here just for the fun of it. really" kind of feeling. I've only heard that feeling come out of one other album - "Traveling Wilburys Volume 1". The only thing David and Jerry wanted to get/achieve in these recordings was the shere pleasue of hearing each other play together, and the excitement of what the music may do while they play. If you're a dead head, you'll probably get this album anyway. If you're not, if you only have a couple (or less) "dead" albums, then pick this one up. You're exactly where I was when i pressed that "play" button. You can see a complete list of all Jerry Garcia & David Grisman discography, or go back to the Jerry Garcia & David Grisman tabs