“On Route 23 down in eastern Kentucky…”

So begins the mournful song written by Jack Adkins and Buddy Dee, and recorded by the Stanley Brothers in February 1958 at Radio WCYB in Bristol, VA. No School Bus In Heaven was the last official studio recording that Carter and Ralph would make for the Mercury label.

It relates the tragic story of a tragedy which took place 50 years ago in Floyd County, Kentucky, wherein 26 children and the driver of the bus in which they were traveling lost their lives when the bus plunged into the Big Sandy River

“These little school children have gone on to glory,” but they left behind heart-broken parents, families and friends. The children and the bereaved are remembered in a gut-wrenching article in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Survivors and those who lost loved ones rarely mention what happened in 1958. They spend most days at home, passing one another at the post office or the grocery store. They sit together in church, bonded by their silent grief and heavy hearts.

But it is a story the whole town knows well. Pictures of those who drowned still hang in local restaurants, schoolhouses and funeral homes.

“People don’t talk about it much. It’s too painful to talk about,” said Orville Ousley, 85, who lost one of his three sons in the accident. “When the anniversary comes each year, we avoid each other and we hide in our homes.”

Read the full piece from the Herald-Leader online.

Rebel Records has recently announced news of the forthcoming release on March 25 of a various Artists collection entitled Best Loved Bluegrass: 20 All-Time Favorites (REB-8004).

The 20 song anthology embraces some of the classic songs in bluegrass music from some of the great acts in the business (track listing below).

So many of the songs here are inextricably linked with the Rebel catalogue; Bringing Mary Home, Fox On The Run and Atlanta Is Burning being three notable examples. These are signature songs as is Love Of The Mountains. There are the tour de force pieces like Rice’s Nine Pound Hammer and JD Crowe’s Train 45 also.

Most of the material is direct from the Rebel vaults, whereas some came to them indirectly, such as – and I speculate here – the Lilly Brothers track, which was originally recorded for Event Records in 1956 or 1957 and later appeared on a County LP. It was subsequently reissued on a Rebel CD (1688). Others in this category are Little Rosewood Casket – Don Reno & Red Smiley (from a Wango LP), Footprints In The Snow – Mac Wiseman (Vetco material, perhaps), Poor Ellen Smith – Ted Lundy & the Southern Mountain Boys (County), Pig In A Pen – Stanley Brothers (Wango) and Lonesome Road Blues – Larry Richardson & Happy Smith (County).

There’s lots of fine traditional material here, which is typical of this series, and which, apparently, has been doing very well for Rebel. Judging by the titles and the artists listed, the potential for this set to match its predecessors is great.

For those who have a long-time interest in bluegrass music the songs and the respective bands speak for themselves; for newcomers this album is a good place to start investigating the Rebel catalogue.

Thanks must be made to Gary Reid for sharing his thoughts on some aspects of this collection.

Complete track list… (more…)

Veteran fiddle and mandolin player Vernon Derrick passed away on Friday morning (1/4) at the age of 74.

He performed with both The Stanley Brothers and Jimmy Martin during the 1960s after gaining some exposure during a brief stint with Flatt & Scruggs. A memorable contribution to the bluegrass repertoire is his instrumental Arab Bounce, originally recorded by Martin and The Sunny Mountain Boys in 1970, and re-cut dozens of times by other artists since.

Country music came calling as well, and Vernon spent time with artists as varied as Lefty Frizzell, Merle Travis and George Morgan to Hank Williams, Jr. It was with Hank Jr. that Derrick saw his greatest prominence, playing fiddle on #1 hits All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down and Country Boy Can Survive.

Vernon had been in poor health this past few years, and suffered from both renal and congestive heart failure. He underwent surgery in December and though he came home briefly after Christmas, he was hospitalized again earlier in the week.

Funeral arrangements can be found on The Arab Tribune web site, which also published a comprehensive overview of Vernon Derrick’s career some time ago.

Another pioneer lost…

Our UK correspondent, Richard F Thompson, shares this news.

Forty years before the ‘O Brother/Down From The Mountain’ tour, an earlier group of like-minded musicians took some Appalachian music on the road. Thankfully, some of the music performed by the small band of minstrels that toured Europe under the title of the American Folk & Country Festival was recorded for posterity.

I believe that there have been taped copies of these shows in circulation, but now Bear Family Records has announced the release of a 2-CD set of recordings from those dates in March 1966. The collection, entitled American Folk & Country Music Festival [Bear Family BCD 16849 BK] comprises 41 tracks, packaged in an LP-size box, along with a 76-page hardcover book that features the usual treasure trove of photos and memorabilia.

Here’s what the Bear Family website has to say about their recent release ‚Ķ‚Ķ.

It was 1966, and the success of the American Folk & Blues festivals in Europe led to the Festival of American Country Music. But this wasn’t slick Nashville music, it was old time, Cajun, bluegrass, and folk music with deep roots in the mountains and swamps of America’s rural South. The artists included The Stanley Brothers (just a few months before Carter Stanley’s death), Roscoe Holcomb, The New Lost City Ramblers, Cyp Landreneau’s Cajun Band, and Cousin Emmy. Together, they offer a fascinating glimpse of early American music played with heart and soul. All the artists were still in peak form and gave European audiences their first taste of this side of American traditional music. It was a historic tour, and decades ahead of its time. In 2000-2002, the performers whose music was heard in ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ staged a tour called ‘Down From The Mountain.’ The idea was the same as the Festival of American Country Music in 1966, except that the music heard in the Festival of American Country Music was truly down from the mountain (just one artist was on both tours: Ralph Stanley).

The collection is highlighted by detailed reminiscences by Mike Seeger, Tracy Schwarz, and John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers, all of whom could appreciate the music both as fans and performers.

One member, John Cohen shares this interesting observation ……

“For bluegrass listeners, the set shows how Carter Stanley sounded and looked at the end of his life, and also makes the firm connection between Roscoe Holcomb and Ralph Stanley. For me, Roscoe’s devotion to the Old Baptist unaccompanied singing reawakened something in Ralph, which emerged so many years later in ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’. Musically and stylistically it’s all there… predicting what eventually happened. Some of Roscoe’s performances are him at his best.”

The book also includes original photos from John Cohen, Klaus-R?ºdiger M?ºller, Lillies Ohlsson, Reinhard Pietsch, and Reinald Schumann.

A full, detailed track listing can be found on the Bear Family web site.