Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver The Original Band, and: G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter The Recordings of Grayson & Whitter (review)

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver The Original Band Sugar HiU, 1998 cd 2210, $15.00 G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter The Recordings of Grayson & Whitter County, 1998 cd 3517, $13.00 In 1927 the bUnd Tennessee fiddler G. B. Grayson met guitarist Henry Whitter at a fiddling convention , and the two teamed up for a spate of influential recordings over the next few years. County Records has re-mastered fifteen of these performances recorded between 1927 and 1929 on a new release that brings together a mix of sentimental songs, murder ballads, and instrumentais that have influenced country and bluegrass artists ever since. The wide range of material, along with Whitter's frequent spoken interjections ("take warning girls and don't marry a drunkard" and "Lord have mercy on a married man anyhow") make this a reveaUng sample of southern vernacular music as it made the transition from the rural dance to the recording studio. Fast forward fifty years and one outcome ofGrayson and Whitter's recordings is Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (dlq). Mediated by the invention ofbluegrass, dlq nevertheless hearkens back to the early string-band era in its straightforward drive and its abiUty to mold a number of influences into a coherent sound. The OriginalBandis a remastered cd compilation of their first two Sugar HiU albums, Doyle Lawson andQuicksilver'(1980), and QuicksilverRidesAgain (1981). The superb picking and tight harmonies captured on those two recordings heralded the arrival of a major talent. Hewing closely to traditional roots while incorporating bluegrass-tinged pop and country with traditional gospel quartet hymnody, dlq quickly estabUshed itself as a group no less influential than Grayson and Whitter had been in a different age. The Uner notes are fuU ofinsights from band members about their early years as they worked to craft their own sound, in addition to reflections almost two decades later about the music. Music Recordings 93 ...