Bluegrass Breakdown: 14 Instrumentals

 (7 customer reviews)

All-instrumental collections of bluegrass are hard to find, and if you like it when a band takes a break from singing and just plays their instruments, here's your chance for total immersion. All the songs on this compilation are from Rounder Records albums released 1976-1998, by artists with familiar names like Alison Krauss and Tony Rice, and others you may never have heard of. All are first rate, foot stompin' renditions of bluegrass traditionals, with a few great originals -- Bill Monroe's "Bluegrass Breakdown" and Earl Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Chimes." Best known for most listeners is a rousing version of "Orange Blossom Special" by the Johnson Mountain Boys. If you like bluegrass with plenty of pickin' at breakneck speed, this CD will keep you smilin' through many, many replays.

...It's a shame the scale only goes to 5 stars,because this CD is...if you know and love Bluegrass is of the best I've heard in a long time..not withstanding the major bands out there!!!...If you crave Bluegrass.....GET THIS CD.....!!!!

I received this CD about 9 years ago, ripped all the tracks to MP3 format and tossed the disc. After listening to it several times in my workshop, I realized that it was the best single collection of instrumental bluegrass I have ever listened to, far better than the highly touted "Three Pickers". Unfortunately I did not retain the tag data so I never knew who the artists were. Thanks to Lee @ BluegrassCountry.org who identified several tracks just by listening to them, I was able to identify this album as my original source. I have over 600 bluegrass MP3s on my computer and these are the best of the best. If you want good, clean, pure, classic bluegrass, this is the album for you.