Search - Charles River Valley Boys :: Bluegrass & Old Timey Music

Lost classics of the 1960s bluegrass scene

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 09/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A fine, generously programmed document of this early bluegrass revival band, gathering the material from two old Prestige/Folklore albums, 1962's "Bluegrass And Old Timey Music" and "Blue Grass Get Together," with Tex Logan, which was recorded in 1964. These city slickers, who came out of the late-'50s Harvard University folk scene, perfectly captured the clattersome, irrepressible spirit of the old-time stringbands, and these two lively records were among the early touchstones of the 1960s bluegrass boom, adding a fine counterpart to the more old-timey orientation of the better-known New Lost City Ramblers. On their second album, the Charles River Valley lads were joined by Joe Val, who went on to be a key player in the East Coast truegrass scene, as well as fiddler Tex Logan, a veteran of top-flight '50s country acts such as Hawkshaw Hawkins' band, as well as bluegrass stalwarts, The Lilly Brothers. The "Get Together" album is certainly more accomplished and more fluid, but all these songs sound mighty fine. A great historical glimpse at the roots of today's modern bluegrass scene, and fine music in and of itself!"