Please run your cursor over photos for captions & credits!

NOTE: This article was compiled over a one-year period, give or take a month or two. I collected disc selections from the folks I interviewed, and sent e-mails to all the bluegrass luminaries I knew, inviting them to participate. Occasionally, the responses are startling! Who would have guessed that Ron Block, banjoist with Alison Krauss + Union Station, likes to rock out with the tunes of Foreigner? Or that Honi Deaton is a die-hard fan of the incomparable Marvin Gaye? Or that Tony Rice is a serious Jimmy Martin fan who also loves violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz? If we are defined by the music we love, then this is an incredibly eclectic bunch of people!

Speaking of Tony Rice, he appears in this collection more than any other performer. Writing this article made me realize how valuable this man's body of work is. From his contributions to the legendary Rounder 0044 with J.D. Crowe to his masterful duet album with Ricky Skaggs, from his covers of Gordon Lightfoot's haunting ballads to his remarkable Manzanita, Tony's the one everybody couldn't live without.

The article, as printed here, is complete and unabridged, a thousand words longer than the piece that appeared in the magazine. Some photos included here are exclusive, reproduced on this site for the first time; BU simply didn't have room for them. I hope you have as much fun reading this piece as I did working on it!

It's December, and no matter where you are, it's probably cold outside.

There might be snow in your yard--maybe even a LOT of snow. As you sip your egg nog and contemplate those waist-high drifts and sub-zero temperatures, here's a question that might help keep your mind off the chill:

If you were stranded on a nice, warm desert island, with a bikini, some ham biscuits, and your Walkman, what CDs would you most want to have with you?

Various members of the bluegrass community--including musicians, deejays, journalists, and pundits--gave this important question some deep thought. Here are their responses...

Orin Friesen, disc jockey, KFTI/KFDI-FM in Wichita, KS:

My album collection numbers in the thousands. It's all stuff I like. If I don't like it, I get rid of it! That said, here is my list. (Orin set his own rules--he didn't think it would be fair to include boxed sets or greatest hits collections!)

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band & Friends--Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Byrds--Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
Newgrass Revival--Friday Night In America
Ian Tyson--Old Corrals & Sagebrush
Michael Martin Murphey--Cowboy Songs, Vol.1
Country Gazette--A Traitor In Our Midst
Dillards--Back Porch Bluegrass
Newgrass Revival--Fly Through The Country
Alison Krauss + Union Station--Every Time You Say Goodbye

Those are my choices as of this moment. This is one of the hardest things I've ever done!

Tony Rice, guitarist:

The Essential Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, 1945-49, from Columbia Country Classics: it's the box set with Flatt & Scruggs and Chubby Wise.
Oscar Peterson--Great Connection: I could listen to this for the rest of my days.
Jimmy Martin--Good and Country: the first Decca album, the one with J.D. Crowe, and not to be mistaken for Mr. Good and Country. Tracks include “You Don't Know My Mind,” “Bear Tracks,” and “Hold Whatcha Got”.
Bill Evans--Sunday at the Village Vanguard: Just a simple configuration--piano, acoustic bass and drums. He was a musical genius!
James Taylor--New Moon Shining or Sweet Baby James: His writing, his vocals, his arrangements... yeah, all of that.
Bill Monroe--Voice From On High: Jimmy Martin is on the bulk of it. The harmony vocals of these tunes, with Jimmy playing rhythm and singing lead, is unsurpassed.
Jascha Heifetz--Bach Sonatas and Partitas: He has no equal. An amazing musician.

Del McCoury of the Del McCoury Band:

I don't even have any CDs that I could call my own! Years ago I had records, and before that, 78s and 45s, and they all, one by one, got away from me. I had things that I loved to play all the time. But I don't have any desire to listen anymore like I used to.

There are so many good writers in this town. I'm about to record a new live album. Right now, I'm listening to new songs that people have given me: Carl Jackson, and Shawn Camp, and Verlin Thompson. There's about five songs written by these guys that I'm working on now for the album. I love to hear new songs that nobody's ever done.

Jimmy Gaudreau, mandolinist with Robin & Linda Williams and Their Fine Group:

Michael Johnson--That's That: It's Michael Johnson (not Jackson!) Great acoustic album laced with lots of Jerry Douglas reso-guitar and super arrangements. I love this guy's voice! He studied classical guitar in Spain and is quite capable of inserting a dandy solo wherever he chooses.
Frank Sinatra--Songs for Young Lovers/Swing Easy: My dad listened to this music when I was growing up so I had an early exposure to Sinatra, Crosby, Nat King Cole and others of this era, but I didn't start to truly appreciate it until I was well into my 20's. I go back and listen closely and find that the greatness is becoming more and more evident with each listen. Sheer quality and resonance in his baritone voice, pitch and incredible phrasing.
Tony Rice--Manzanita: When this LP came out in the 70's, I think it changed the way a lot of people, including myself, listened to bluegrass music. I've heard people say they listened to this recording all the way through before realizing that it didn't have a banjo anywhere on it. True, but it sure didn't lack in drive or instrumental proficiency. Tony was also in prime voice, and the tunes he did with Ricky Skaggs and Sam Bush are as good as it gets.
Chesapeake--Rising Tide: I would actually consider this one, if I were allowed to only grab a handful of CDs. My reasons: A) It represents the cream of our repertoire, and we put an immense amount of thought and energy into selecting and arranging the material. B) Hey, what's unnatural about enjoying listening to material that you yourself helped to select and create? C) I think that Moondi Klein is one of the greatest vocalists on this or any other planet and I'm privileged to have had the opportunity to work with him.

Ryan Holladay, banjoist and excellent young man:

New Grass Revival--Greatest Hits
Nickel Creek--Nickel Creek
Flatt & Scruggs--Live at Carnegie Hall
Lonesome River Band--Talking to Myself

Nancy Cardwell, IBMA Special Projects Director; freelance writer & editor; bassist with The Persimmon Sisters:

Tony Rice--Tony Rice Sings Gordon Lightfoot
The Eagles--Desperado
The Front Porch String Band (self-titled; Claire Lynch's first album)
Randy Stonehill--Welcome to Paradise or Lazarus Heart
Hot Rize (self-titled; the first album, with the pancakes on it)
Rice, Rice, Pedersen & Hillman--Out of the Woodwork
Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys--The Music of Bill Monroe: 1936-1994
Newgrass Revival--Barren County
Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice--Skaggs & Rice
James Taylor--JT
Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton & Linda Ronstadt--Trio
The Lennon Brothers--Swing Away
The Carpenters--The Carpenters' Greatest Hits
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band--Dream
The New Tradition--Following the Son (My little brother Ray sings lead on half the songs!)
Paul Brewster--Everybody's Talkin'
Country Gazette--American & Clean
Dale Ann Bradley--East Kentucky Mornin'
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils (self-titled first album)
Anything by The Beatles

Jennings Chestnut, South Carolina promoter and luthier:

Earl Scruggs--Foggy Mountain Banjo: This is just pure music filled with the emotion of the moment.
Various artists--The Stanley Tradition: Shows that younger folks have not abandoned the real sound of bluegrass music.
Rice, Crowe, Lawson, Hicks, Phillips--The Bluegrass Album: Returned bluegrass music to a more pure state than it was for many years in the 60's and 70's.

Rhonda Vincent of Rhonda Vincent and The Rage:

J.D. Crowe & The New South--untitled Rounder record (0044), with the song "I'm Walkin'", featuring Jerry Douglas, Ricky Skaggs, & Tony Rice
Ricky Skaggs--Sweet Temptation
Tony Rice--Manzanita

These albums have it all, which is why I love them so much. Incredible, inventive power pickin' and singing by the greatest bluegrass singers of all time, with exquisite harmonies.

David Royko, clinical psychologist and music journalist:

Chris Thile--Not All Who Wander Are Lost: Besides being an instrumentalist on a par with the greatest from any genre, he is also a composer and arranger with true originality, creativity and accessibility. Toss in people like Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, and this disc is the state of the art for progressive bluegrass/newgrass.
Abdullah Ibrahim--Water from an Ancient Well: Sublime composing, arranging and soloing by South African jazz pianist Ibrahim. This is the best version of his band, Ekaya.
Olivier Messiaen--Quartet for the End Of Time, performed by Michel Béroff (piano), Eric Gruenberg (violin), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet) and William Pleeth (cello): Gruenberg's searing intensity in the closing slow movement caps off a recording that reaches emotional heights that leave me wrung out every time I listen.

Ron Block, banjoist for Alison Krauss+Union Station and solo recording artist:

Rice, Crowe, Lawson, Hicks, Phillips--The Bluegrass Album: Some of the most kick-butt bluegrass ever recorded. Classic recording. When I heard this record as a teenaged banjo picker, I immediately thought, "Oh! THAT'S how bluegrass banjo is meant to sound!"
Pat Metheny--American Garage: Rawness from one of the best guitarists ever.
Joni Mitchell--Blue: A defining recording in the history of nouveau folk of the sixties. Joni raised the bar in terms of pitch, phrasing, timing, songwriting, and alternate tunings.
James Taylor--Greatest Hits: Nothing needs to be said about James. Just listen.
Fernando Ortega--Hymns and Meditations: Fernando is the saving grace of contemporary Christian music. No pretense. Just sincere Spirit.
Foreigner--Greatest Hits: If you wanna rock out, Lou Gramm is an amazing singer. Classic tunes from a classic rock band.

Peter Rowan of Peter Rowan and His Texas Trio:

If I were to have to listen to anything, it would be the Beethovan Piano Sonatas; that, and the sublime singing of the great Subbulakshmi, a woman classical Indian singer!

Tim O'Brien of The Tim O'Brien Band and president of IBMA:

Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys--Live Recordings 1956-1969, Off The Record Volume 1: Ralph Rinzler culled the very best of many years of Monroe's live tapes for this CD. Ralph knew, like Deadheads knew about Jerry Garcia, that you had to patiently wait for the special, transcendent moments. If you did that with Monroe you would be rewarded with maybe one solo or vocal phrase, or even a few bars of his mandolin chop, that would set you free. There are many such moments here. Bill reinvents on each track, and you get the best complete picture of his art in this one set of 27 live tracks. Monroe's music and art are so deep. You can't ever reach the bottom. Dive in!
Alan Lomax--Sounds Of The South--A Musical Journey From The Georgia Sea Islands To The Mississippi Delta: There's very little pure bluegrass per se on this collection of field recordings; rather, it's an incredible survey of the context that bluegrass comes from. Black and white, mountain and flatland, secular and spiritual, unaccompanied ballads, field hollers, fiddle and banjo, it's a road atlas of southern musical roots. Many of the pieces have found their way into my repertoire, and I keep finding more songs to study. As it's a 4-CD set of incredibly varied material, you never get tired of any one thing. These field recordings are so intimate, like you're sitting between the performers in your living room. Sound quality is pretty good, if at times unconventional. This is vine-ripe veggies from your garden in the backyard, just picked and served... still among the tastiest stuff available.
Jim Mills--Bound To Ride: This is the kind of thing you can use to sell bluegrass to the uninitiated (another one would be Skaggs and Rice). But don't think of it as "low-impact bluegrass for beginners". This is hard-driving bluegrass, nothing less, nothing more--the stuff you keep in the spice drawer for when you need that particular flavor. The sound is up to modern standards, it's got some great singing, and many luminaries (Jerry Douglas, Tim Stafford, Adam Steffey, etc.) are sidemen to Mills here. But it's his show the whole way. The tone, the drive, the taste, and most importantly, the joy of playing bluegrass all saturate this CD.

Steve Dilling, banjoist with IIIrd Tyme Out:

If I were stranded on a desert island, I just couldn't live without these ultimate bluegrass recordings!

Tony Rice--Manzanita: Some of the best music ever recorded, even if there isn't a banjo.
Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, Bobby Hicks, Todd Phillips--The Bluegrass Album Vol. 1
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs--1949-1958 (the boxed set)

Kip Martin, founder of the DC Bluegrass Union; bassist with Mike Auldridge, Wayne Taylor & Keith Arneson:

I need sustenance, depth, and character in my music. Just nailing the form doesn't do it for me. I love Flatt and Scruggs, for example. I learn a lot about bluegrass from them. [but] I need more than just chops. They just don't have the depth and complexity of emotion that these three albums have for me...

The Beatles--The White Album: The foundation for all my beliefs about pop music, creativity, integrity, and beauty. If I were limited to one album, I think this would be it.
The Stanley Brothers--Bear Family Box Set: This music defines what I'd call 'mountain music'. It's a link between the old and new worlds.
Jimi Hendrix--Electric Ladyland: Passionate, intricate, still timeless, and something about Hendrix's playing 'speaks' to me. I've just always loved this album.

Mike Kear, DJ for Australia's Music From Foggy Hollow radio show (heard daily at http://bluegrasscountry.org):

Gee whiz, I have trouble deciding which FORTY CDs to take to the radio station each week! Limiting me to only a few is brutal in the extreme. However, since I have to limit myself, I'm packing the following, which at the moment are my favorites:

Mountain Heart--No Other Way: A fine variety of bluegrass music--gospel, secular, fast, slow, instrumental and a cappella. A great album from a group that's going places.
Eva Cassidy--Imagine: Just simply it is divine. Eva was an angel and was taken far too early. She sings jazz ("Fever"), pop ("Imagine"), and the track I play over and over [which] never fails to get to me: "Tennessee Waltz".
Patty Loveless--Mountain Soul: Just because it's so well done in every respect. Fun, varied, top-notch music. I'd give a lot to see a Patty Loveless concert and not just so I could see her superlative young Aussie guitarist, Jedd Hughes, either.
Karen Lynne & Acoustic Shock--Blue Mountain Rain: A lovely mix of bluegrass. Karen has an angelic voice, and the boys in Acoustic Shock are the best combination there is in Australia.
Greg Champion--Shady Tree: From "When I Kick The Bucket", an upbeat happy description of what's going to happen to all his parts when he dies, to the slow and mournful "Slow and Mournful"... Greg's famous in Australia for his quirky sense of humor.

Martha Adcock of Eddie and Martha Adcock:

Anything by Gene Watson. THE voice: what a gift. Could sing the Kabul phone book and hold me enthralled.
Anything by Russell Moore with IIIrd Tyme Out, or Doyle Lawson. Sheer vocal beauty and ability.
Anything by the Classic Country Gentlemen. Incredible power, talent and chemistry.
Anything by Larry Sparks. Pure vocal soul, great communicator.

Eddie Adcock of Eddie and Martha Adcock:

How could I possibly choose? It would take me a year to decide. Well, meanwhile I'd take three of our own recent CDs--Spirited, Renaissance Man, and Dixie Fried.

Dan Crary, guitarist:

Sabicas--Flamenco Puro
The Waverly Consort--Greatest Hits of the Renaissance
Flatt & Scruggs--Foggy Mountain Jamboree

I'd still be listening to them after a thousand years.

Dave Blood, mandolinist with Mixt Company:

Good gosh! So many albums, so few picks. Here are mine (drum roll--oops, make that a banjo roll...)

Bill Monroe--A Voice From On High: Most exciting and powerful of the Monroe gospel.
Seldom Scene--Act 1: First of the best.
Flatt & Scruggs--Live from Carnegie Hall: Live F&S from their best period.

Al Hawkes, guitarist and mandolinist; owner of Event Records/Darleen Music Publishing Co.; co-founder of Bluegrass Music Association of Maine:

Oh, what fun. I'm looking at my library of music (it has now grown to about 35,000 discs) and making the hard decision.

The Essential BILL MONROE and his Blue Grass Boys 1945 - 1949 (Columbia Country Classics series; 2-CD set): This is what branded bluegrass music forever. As Monroe said in a interview with James Roney, "If a man listening will let it, bluegrass will transmit right into your heart. If you love music and you listen close, it will come right on into you." Yes sir! I learned to play mandolin with the original 78RPM disc of "Kentucky Waltz" included in this set.
The Carter Family (Bear Family 12-CD box set of 287 songs): All the original Carter Family recordings from 1927 to 1941. Includes a hard-cover book with hundreds of wonderful photos. This is where it all began. So much sincerity in these performances, lovingly brought back to life on CD. I have many of the original 78s, and still perform many of these songs. Worth every penny!
The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover--Early Recordings (recorded in 1956-57; reissued by Rebel): I was the producer/owner of these recordings on my Event label. The boys were hot and eager to record. I am told that these have influenced many a bluegrass musician. Each time I listen, I enjoy the memories of the studio sessions, and vivid images of the fun we had recording with no studio clock ticking!

John Golden, Nashville director/manager of Deaton Entertainment:

Merle Haggard--Chill Factor
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs--Live at Carnegie Hall
James Taylor--Live

Laurie Lewis, fiddler and singer:

Ricky Skaggs & Tony Rice--Skaggs and Rice: I don't think I could live without that for very long.
Russ Barenberg--Cowboy Calypso
A boxed set from old-time fiddler Ed Haley. That would give me a bunch of stuff to work on for years and years!

Mark Newton of The Mark Newton Band and Mark Newton Entertainment:

My musical tastes vary, but my roots are very important to me. I don't want any of my own music! I'd rather listen to somebody else sing and play. I'd probably have a Stanley Brothers record, and a Jimmy Martin. I love Jimmy's early stuff. In the Southern rock world, I'd have something from the Allman Brothers. The Old Home Place, with J.D., Tony, Ricky, Bobby Sloane and Jerry, was one of the records I loved when it first came out. I could relate to them because they were of my generation, maybe a few years older. I thought it was pretty cool. They were young people who grew up on music with a traditional base, but they wanted to stretch and explore other avenues. I could relate to that. A light turned on for me. When they got together as a group, it inspired me.

Ken Irwin, co-founder of Rounder Records:

The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover--Early Recordings: When I first arrived in Boston in the early 60s, I was very fortunate to have the Charles River Valley Boys, Keith and Rooney, and The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover all playing in town. Though underage, I would go to the legendary Hillbilly Ranch where I first got to hear the real thing in an atmosphere as close to that of the rural south as one could find north of the Mason-Dixon. The Lillys played the Hillbilly seven nights a week and I went down there often. It was from the Lillys that I first developed my love for close duet harmonies.
Vern and Ray--Old Homestead: Vern Williams has long been one of my favorite singers. Whether singing lead or tenor, he puts an edge that is unlike anything you are likely to hear today. Ray Park's voice was smoother, but the blend in their duets was chilling. Ray was also a very under-appreciated fiddler and songwriter. "Old Dick Potter" is a humorous story song with a twisted ending, and "To Hell With the Land" is one of my favorite and earliest ecological bluegrass songs. Blood-and-guts bluegrass, not for the casual listener.
The Louvin Brothers--Bear Family box set: Although not bluegrass artists, the Louvin Brothers have had such a profound influence on bluegrass through their singing and repertoire that I feel comfortable including them here. Once again, there's great duet singing here featuring Ira's piercing tenor and Charlie's rock solid leads. Whether tackling old time songs as on "Tragic Songs of Life" or their own originals, the Louvins left a body of work unrivaled in country music.
Red Allen and the Osborne Brothers--Country Pickin' and Hillside Singin': This is some great bluegrass. It's too bad that this aggregation didn't record more, as this is a classic. There's great emotional lead work by both Red and Bobby Osborne, and some of the most beautiful singing in bluegrass: solos, traditional trios and the earliest high lead trios in the genre. Great singing, arrangements, playing and material all add up to an album that is easy to listen to over and over again.

Doc Watson, guitarist:

I'd probably want to take more than a couple; I'd want at least a dozen, and variations of different things. I like quite a bit of the Beatles' music. I surely do. They've done some beautiful songs. And Days of Future Past... Those boys, they do some kind of rocky things, but different flavors... that's where I got 'Knights In White Satin', from the Days of Future Past album that the Moody Blues put together.

It would vary from an old-time fiddler, a good one, all the way to good classical piano music. Classical guitar, I love. There's a couple, a man and his wife, they do a version of 'Claire De Lune' that is absolutely unthinkably beautiful. Chet did some classical music on an album called Fingerstyle, way back yonder. I like what he did with it. He played a lot of it as written, on the electric guitar. It's beautiful. Find Fingerstyle, if you can get it. It may be on CD, could have been reissued. You will enjoy that record.

Art Dudley, editor-at-large for Stereophile magazine:

The Smithsonian Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music: As the single noteworthy achievement of a man who had actually set out to do something else with his life (attempted filmmaker Harry Smith), this essential collection is brilliantly, indelibly American in more ways than one.
Bob Dylan--The Genuine Basement Tapes (5-CD bootleg): Songs from Dylan's best--and most Harry Smith-inspired--period, with instrumental backing from all the members of The Band except Levon Helm. As with the Smithsonian set, all these songs are about laughing, death, or laughing at death.
Elvis Presley--The Sun Sessions: The hardest-rocking record ever made, and there aren't even drums on most of the tracks.

Junior Sisk, guitarist with Baucom, Bibey & Blueridge:

The Stanley Brothers--The Early Starday-King Years 1958-1961 Box Set
The Johnson Mountain Boys--Live at the Birchmere
Rambler's Choice--Sounds of the Mountain

Author's Choice--Caroline Wright, writer:

Any island adventure upon which I embark must include seven albums that I couldn't live without. As I currently am marooned on O`ahu, I guess I'm lucky to have 'em!

Bluegrass Alliance--the one with Lonnie Peerce, Dan Crary, Ebo Walker, etc., and tunes like “Redhaired Boy” and “Sweet Sunny South” and “Reuben James”. On vinyl, it's a little rough, but intensely beautiful in so many places, and rollicking fun, too! This one deserves to be re-released on CD.
Tony Rice--Me and My Guitar: for “Greenlight on the Southern,” an extraordinary Norman Blake tune, but also for “Port Tobacco,” Tony's own elegant composition.
II Generation: The all-black Rome album, and the Head Cleaner album, with Wendy Thatcher all over them both. Wendy, who wrote “Another Lonesome Day,” is one of my favorite singers of any genre. Her voice is a smoky-sweet revelation, and her original tunes are infused with moments like this: “Mile after mile of lonely Kansas road/Field after field plowed and sown/But this Kansas wheat/ain't near as sweet/ as one Virginia pine/Virginia mine.” Gene Johnson (from Diamond Rio) and Jimmy Gaudreau are on these albums, too, and both Adcocks, on Head Cleaner. Richly textured and filled with joy.
The Seldom Scene--Acts I, II, and III: The very, very best bluegrass in the world, for my dime. I love these guys, and these three albums, so very much. This is what it's all about.

Honi Deaton of Honi Deaton and Dream:

Béla Fleck--Drive: So much energy! I love it. I make up my own stories for all the songs, because there are no words.
Dolly Parton--The Grass Is Blue: Just a lot of music I can relate to. The happy songs, the sad songs... there's a little piece of my life here and there, throughout the album, and I love that.
Marvin Gaye--Greatest Hits: I love R&B! It has all those romantic songs. Maybe I wouldn't feel quite so lonely on that desert island if I had that CD.

Jeff Deaton, guitarist with Honi Deaton and Dream:

Béla Fleck--Drive: I get in the car and put that thing on and before I know it, I'm doing 90.
Johnson Mountain Boys--Let The Whole World Talk: That's one of my all-time favorite bluegrass songs!
Journey--Greatest Hits: The instrumentation and vocals are just incredible!

Beppe Gambetta, guitarist:

Doc Watson--On Stage: The album that first turned me on to flatpicking.
Emory Gordy Jr, Jim Buchanan, Dave Grisman, and Herb Pedersen--Here Today: The most energetic!
Tony Rice--Cold on The Shoulder: The best mixture of progressive and traditional.

Señor McGuire, photographer:

Django Reinhardt--The Classic Early Recordings In Chronological Order: A 5-CD box set put out by JSP Records in London, featuring remastered recordings of Django and Stephane Grappelli and various configurations of the "Hot Club of France". This is Django and Grappelli at their best, playing all the classic jazz tunes of the 1930s and '40s including many that they wrote. A stunning collection of two of the most influential, acoustic, guitar and fiddle masters. I listen to Django, in some form, every day.
Homer & Jethro--Playing It Straight and It Ain't Necessarily Square: These two, long-out-of-print instrumental albums have been re-released by a Japanese record company on one CD, available at www.musicselection.com. Produced by Chet Atkins, these are two of the most underrated and unrecognized jazz players of our time: Jethro Burns playing jazz mandolin like you've never heard, and his brother Homer on guitar with a few special guests. Many people remember Homer & Jethro from their comedy records, but these boys can flat jam and play.
Hank Williams--The Collectors' Edition: An 8-CD boxed set of all the original Hank Williams records from the 1940s through 1953, the year he died. I remember wearing out many of these original recordings on 78s and later 33 LPs, when I was in high school in the 1950s. These songs and that voice are just as haunting and powerful today as they were then. They should make every new country music artist sit down and listen to these 169 songs before they make their first music video.

Tom Gray, 16-year veteran of the Seldom Scene, bassist with the reunited "Seldom Seniors"; Hazel Dickens; Eddie & Martha Adcock; and the Federal Jazz Commission--and the only bassist in IBMA's Hall of Honor:

I guess my choices reflect a taste for things that have stood the test of time.

The Stanley Brothers--Bear Family box set: Includes the early 1950s stuff from Mercury that features that driving bass of the Shuffler brothers, George and John. It's filled with soulful Appalachian singing and my inspiration on the bass.
The Blue Sky Boys--The double album (#AXM 5525) from RCA on the Bluebird label. Their sweet harmonies still put me in a sentimental mood.
The Seldom Scene--Live at the Cellar Door: Please forgive me for including one of my own, but I love to relive the good times preserved here.