Rounder is preparing to release a compilation project of John Hartford’s music on September 22.

Entitled, Good’le Days: Essential Recordings, the new CD is part of Rounder’s budget-minded Perfect 10 Series, each of which includes ten tracks from an important Rounder artist. They show the selling price online as $7.99.

How would you like to pick just ten tracks to represent the music of such a legend? Well, here’s what Ken Irwin and Marian Levy came up with…

• Skippin’ in the Mississippi Dew
  
• Gum Tree Canoe
  
• Gentle on My Mind
  
• Lorena
  
• In Tall Buildings
  
• The Vamp from Back in the Goddle Days
  
• Wrong Road Again
• Good Old Electric Washing Machine — circa 1943
  
• Take Me Back to My Mississippi River Home
  
• Old Time River Man

The tracks were taken from recordings Hartford did for the Flying Fish label between 1976 and 1989. They include featured performances from guest artists and frequent Hartford collaborators Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Mark O’Conner, Roy Huskey Jr., Benny Martin, Norman Blake, Vassar Clements and Tut Taylor.

When the roll is called of the all-time greatest fiddlers in bluegrass, the name of Benny Martin will always be included. He was a member of the Flatt & Scruggs show for several years in the early 1950s, and also worked briefly for Bill Monroe. He played on The Grand Ole Opry as a solo performer, and had stints with country artists Johnny and Jack, Roy Acuff and Kitty Wells.

He was a flamboyant performer, and a favorite with fans in the 50s and 60s for his singing and fiddling, plus his huge smile and larger-than-life persona on stage. Benny passed away in 2001, but had been in ill health since the mid-’80s, so a great many younger bluegrass fans and fiddlers have only a passing acquaintance with his brilliant playing.

Thanks to CMH Records, one of his classic recordings is set to be reissued on CD. The Fiddle Collection, originally released as a 2 LP set in 1977, is set to hit the street on October 9 in a special CD edition. The tracks from the original vinyl have been remastered, and a number of bonus tracks are included as well, all of which feature John Hartford on banjo.

Among the 28 tracks are such favorites as Lee Highway Blues, Fiddlers Dream, Back Up And Push and Ragtime Annie, as well as bluegrass numbers like Flint Hill Special, Footprints In The Snow and Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

To get a feel for just how influential Martin was on the next generation of fiddlers, we asked a few of the current nominees for the IBMA Fiddle Player Of The Year Award for comment.

First up is Mountain Heart’s Jim Van Cleve:

“Big Tige (Benny Martin) was the quintessential bluegrass fiddle player…Unbelievably rich tone, especially considering the recording technology of the time, an incredible awareness of the vocal and an inventiveness for where he needed be in context to it. It was so natural for him. Ultimately, he played a huge part in defining for a lot of players, myself included, what types of things were appropriate for the bluegrass fiddler. It’s not unlike what Tony Rice eventually did for bluegrass guitar. His signature fire and enthusiasm just underlined the fact that what he was playing and creating was perfect!”

Ron Stewart, fiddling with JD Crowe & The New South added these words: (more…)