Norman Blake first made me aware of the ginseng root, via his masterful recording of the tune Ginseng Sullivan. He released the song in 1972 on the Back Home in Sulphur Springs album.

Of course, Tony Rice also cut the tune on the Manzanita album that has come to be such a revered classic. Manzanita was released in 1990.

Ginseng can be found everywhere these days it seems. From energy drinks to pills in the pharmacy. From what I understand wild ginseng is very much in demand as it is somehow superior to farmed ginseng. It takes a long time, many years, for a ginseng root to reach maturity. That’s why this story out of China is so newsworthy.

A person from Tonghua city, in the Jilin Province, discovered in the Changbaishang mountains, what experts are saying is a 300 year old wild ginseng plant. The root weighed in at 366 grams and sold for the equivalent of $400,000.

Now that would have been a find for old Ginseng Sullivan!

UPDATE 12:30 p.m. - We got an email from reader Steve Smith who reminded us that Manzanita was initially released on vinyl in 1978 (Rounder shows 1979).  Oops!

Steve also says that the CD was first released in 1987. I couldn’t find a verification of that on Rounder’s site.

Rebel Records has reissued two more bluegrass classics as download only releases, available only from eMusic and iTunes. Both were originally released on LP in the early-to-mid 1970s.

Folks these days know Ricky Skaggs as a successful band leader, vocalist and mandolinist, but when That’s It was released in 1975, Skaggs was a journeyman bluegrass pro working for JD Crowe and The Country Gentlemen. The 12 tracks are mostly instrumental, with favorites like Red Apple Rag, Florida Blues and Sweet Georgia Brown included along with a few Skaggs vocals.

Joining Ricky on this record were Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Tom Gray and Ed Ferris on bass, Marc Pruett on banjo, and Terry Baucom on fiddle and guitar.

Audio samples can be found in the iTunes Music Store.

Roy McMillan & the High Country Boys were known for hard driving, original North Carolina bluegrass in the 1970s, and High Country was their debut release on Rebel. The 12 tracks were all written by band members, primarily Roy McMillan himself.

You can also find audio samples for High Country in iTunes.

Also recently re-released in digital form by Rebel, available from eMusic and iTunes, are these other classics: