Search - Johnson Mountain Boys :: At the Old Schoolhouse

Bluegrass at it's best.

11/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you like traditional bluegrass, then this album is a must for your collection. I had the honor of being at Lucketts Community Center when this album was recorded. Listening to the CD ten years later is just as exciting as being there that night. One of the best bluegrass bands to ever laid down some tracks. Dudley and the boys are hitting on all cylinders, enjoy all."

Live Bluegrass At Its Finest

Hollow Leg | North New York | 11/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Simply one of the best two live bluegrass albums ever recorded. The Johnson Mountain Boys cover every facet of what a fan could hope to experience at a bluegrass show. Soaring vocals, blazing instrumentals, classic covers, stirring gospels and great original material mixed with the in-between-song banter that, more than any other performers, bluegrass folk seem to be so good at.



Favorites included "Body and Soul" (Dudley Connell's vocals are off the chart here - just incredible), "Long Journey Home", Weathered Gray Stone", "Let The Whole World Talk" and "I've Found a Hiding Place" (great vocal harmony here).



Wondering what the other "best" live bluegrass album is? That would be The Johnson Mountain Boys "Live at the Birchmere" released about 5 years earlier than this one. Only two or three of the same songs are included on both albums so its like getting an entirely different show. Get them both - you won't be sorry!

"

The Best Live Bluegrass Concert Ever Recorded

J. Beaver | Connecticut | 04/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After less than a decade together in the 1980s, the Johnson Mountain Boys decided to call it quits in 1988, and chose the live performance scheduled for the Old Schoolhouse at Lucketts, VA, as their "farewell concert." Legions of bluegrass fans considered this outstanding band the torch bearer for traditional bluegrass music, and were distraught at the prospect of losing the band (though they eventually recorded one more CD in the early 1990s before disbanding for good around 1994.) So with that in mind, the concert was recorded (and video taped, although the video has not yet surfaced), and this CD is what we have from that night.



What is on this disc is simply the most energetic, heartfelt, live performance bluegrass music has ever seen. The fast tempo songs and instrumentals are _extraordinarily_ fast, and what one might expect to be frenetic at that pace comes out just perfectly. Fiddler Eddie Stubbs is a master, David McLaughlin is "Mr. Clean" on the mandolin, Tom Adams picks killer banjo, Marshall Willborn keeps solid time on the doghouse, and Dudley Connell is a textbook on rhythm guitar. In an interesting but very effective set of singing roles, Dudley sings lead on the verses and then jumps to tenor on the choruses where David picks up the lead.



On the slow side, lead singer Dudley Connell belts out an emotional version of "Dream of a Miner's Child" that leaves the listener emotionally spent with big tears rolling down cheeks. At what is probably the greatest point of the disc, as Dudley sings the last note of "Miner's Child" there is a stunned moment of silence before the audience erupts in thunderous applause that lasts for a couple of minutes. The audience at the schoolhouse _knows_ the significance of the performance they just heard. Eddie Stubbs, now a Grand Ole Opry announcer and WSM DJ, can be heard saying it best in his understated way during the applause, "That's a great job there." It simply doesn't get any better than this.



If you don't own this CD, buy it immediately, and get one for your friends. This is what bluegrass music is all about, and this band is the best that ever played the music."