Shenandoah Cut Ups

I'm a bluegrass novice, but I listen to Bluegrass Breakdown every week, and I often find something compelling to search out and buy (if it's available).  I am gradually refining my bluegrassical palate. I veer toward the "old-timey" end of the genre for, perhaps, karmic reasons--but more likely because that's what I grew up listening to--my father had a bunch of bluegrass records, as well as some early "good" country singles (most notably, Porter Wagoner's first 45 from 1954).

I won't say anything bad about mainstream country music, per se; I just don't listen to it, for the same reason that I don't listen to much else that's on the radio. Too bland, too uninteresting.

(A side note: Nashville tourists are easy to spot: they're the only ones wearing cowboy boots, jeans, and various hats. I'm just not hip to that jive.)

There is something universally compelling about good folk and bluegrass (and some country). It is, after all, "roots music," and when you reach a certain age--assuming that you're still interested in discovering and owning good music--you want to discover the sounds behind the sounds that moved you as an adolescent. And the 1960s and 1970s in particular were quietly informed by the folk and bluegrass bubbling up in the background. (When I first heard some early Buck Owens, for example, my first thought was, "This sounds just like the Monkees!")

Which brings me, circuitously, to the Shenandoah Cut Ups. "Bluegrass Breakdown" recently featured three cuts from the self-titled album from 1973. I made note of the group, went online, expecting to pick up the CD--only to discover that there is no CD. In fact, only limited numbers of the vinyl (Rebel 1526) exist. I snatched up a "very good" graded vinyl copy for what I considered to be a fair price of $18, and I'm glad that I did. They're all gone now, at least on Amazon.com.

Very little information exists online for either the Shenandoah Cut Ups, or the Rebel 1526 album.

I can't put my finger on why this particular album is so good. It may simply be a combination of simpatico musicians and the magic of the moment--that undefinable, unidentifiable element that causes a particular session to be transcendent. However, if you do find this album somewhere, give it a spin--I won't even begin to try to describe why this album is particularly in-the-pocket. And if some informed reader stumbles upon this blog and knows more about the Shenandoah Cut Ups, circa 1973, I'd like to know more.