Goodness, gracious, sakes alive . . . they’re good!  I received my Flatt & Scruggs early shows DVD’s yesterday and had a look at some of them last night.  They are great.  From the liner notes it appears that the publishers have tapes of around 36 of these broadcasts.  The first two DVD’s include two shows each.  Hopefully the publishers will make more avaialable.

The DVD’s include some of the Martha White “cooking tips” for biscuits, cornbread, “nick-nacks” (you’ll have to see the show to understand what they are), etc.  They are certainly a far cry from Emeril or Rachael Ray, but they are authentic and period and a great piece of Americana from the era of the shows.  We might try to write to P.O. Box 58, Nashville, Tenn. for the free booklets and recipes!

The camera work on the shows is pretty good.  This is a close as we’re going to get to an Earl Scruggs instructional DVD (unless there’s one out there of which I am unaware).  I learned some things last night just watching part of the DVD’s (like the part of Earl’s Breakdown where he walks down the neck – I always started it on the second string and worked down to the first position before continuing down the scale onto the third and fourth strings.  He works down from the second, to the third, and to the fourth strings all while at the second position, and THEN continues down the scale on the fourth string).

These are great DVD’s.  I highly recommend them and cast my vote for the release of further shows.