Bluegrass Music TV and Man-Do-Lin Productions are pleased to announce their association with producers of Bluegrass Country Soul, Inc. which will bring the legendary live recording on video to the Country Road TV Network and for the first time will make the music available for Bluegrass music fans and all music lovers of traditional music to enjoy on audio digital streaming via Syntax Creative.
The first two tracks to be released through this association will be powerful live performances of the classic instrumental “Train 45” by J.D. Crowe and The Kentucky Mountain Boys and Ralph Stanley’s classic “Man Of Constant Sorrow” performed along with The Clinch Mountain Boys, recorded at Camp Springs, NC, live at Carlton Haney’s 1971 Labor Day Bluegrass Festival.
Ronnie Reno and Sammy Passamano 3 will be live streaming today on Bluegrass Music TV Facebook and YouTube channels at 12:00 noon talking about all things relating to these legendary live performances and future Bluegrass Country Soul releases.
Country Road TV is a unique entertainment network where consumers can access the content via the web, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Smartphone, and Roku. Their audience base collectively reaches 1.7 million viewers on a regular basis. The network focuses on Country and Bluegrass content for the 55+ audience.
The music on Bluegrass Country Soul has been heard in various forms over the past 50+ years in movie theaters, on TV, Cable broadcasts, social media platforms such as YouTube. DVD offers include Amazon, Ebay and BluegrassCountrySoul.com
In addition to above mentioned video and audio digital streaming the producers of Bluegrass Country Soul have a newly restored Blu-ray & DVD in 4k and surround sound in the 50th Anniversary box set, available at BluegrassCountrySoul.com.
Bluegrass Country Soul…is a treasure. Like reading a good book, different details stand out each time the film is viewed. It’s hard to imagine a three-day line-up with more talented and diverse performers. The centerpiece of the new collection is a beautifully produced, 168-page coffee table book entitled Bluegrass Country Soul – The Legendary Festival. Country people and fans from the cities got along fine, enjoying the music they all loved. Carlton Haney referred to them as “the long hairs” and “the short hairs.” In a time of political and racial division in the world today perhaps we should look to the power of music to build community, the way it happened in the equally contentious summer of 1971. – Nancy Cardwell Webster, Bluegrass Unlimited, December 2020
“Man of Constant Sorrow” by Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys contains performances by Bluegrass icon Ralph Stanley (Vocals, Banjo), Keith Whitley (Guitar, Vocals), Ricky Skaggs (Mandolin, Vocals), Curly Ray Cline (Fiddle) and Jack Cooke (Bass)
Twenty-nine years before O Brother, Where Art Thou? made this song famous world-wide, Ralph Stanley sang it during Carlton Haney’s 1971 Labor Day Bluegrass Festival in Camp Springs, NC. This performance was filmed for the feature documentary Bluegrass Country Soul, which was theatrically released in 1972. Carlton introduces this number by saying, “A bluegrass festival is where you can hear the soul of a man. In the quiet part of a night, you can look down on the stage, and hear the lonesome sound of Ralph Stanley.”
The two teenaged musicians who toured with Ralph that summer, Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley, Bluegrass & Country Hall of Fame Superstars, would go on to become famous performers. Ralph Stanley was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1992. Ricky Skaggs was inducted in 2018.
“Train 45” by J.D. Crowe and The Kentucky Mountain Boys contains performances by Bluegrass Banjo legend J.D. Crowe (Banjo) and his band at the time The Kentucky Mountain Boys Tony Rice (Guitar), Larry Rice Mandolin) and Bobby Slone (Bass).
This traditional instrumental song was made famous because of J.D.’s speed and dexterity. Recorded at Carlton Haney’s 1971 Labor Day Bluegrass Festival in Camp Springs, NC. This was the first festival in which Tony Rice joined the group. J.D. Crowe renamed the group The New South the week after the festival. J.D. Crowe was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2003, with Tony Rice joining him in 2013.
“I got to see Bluegrass Country Soul at a drive-in theater. It was amazing to see my big ole head up on a screen, the size of a barn. But it was so incredible to hear the music, and to see the way it was shot. It was captured just brilliantly, I think. It’s just a moment in time, frozen in ice like a leaf. I’m just so thankful that it got recorded when it did…” – Ricky Skaggs
The video and audio tracks were produced by Albert Ihde and recorded at Camp Springs, NC live at Carlton Haney’s 1971 Labor Day Bluegrass Festival.
Bluegrass D.J.’s should contact Sammy Passmano 3 to receive metadata and audio files on both tracks.
Watch for many more tracks coming soon from the Bluegrass Country Soul legendary live recordings.
