I had to take a break from writing this due to internets problems. All fixed now, but in the interim I’ve lost my passion for delving into the Jim and Jesse twofer, Bluegrass Special and Bluegrass Classics. A good deal of the tracks on these discs are featured on the Epic years record I discussed in the previous entry. Suffice to say, these two records feature Jim and Jesse at their most “commercial”—aiming for both Nashville success (they got it; they became members of the Opry) and the college folk crowd. That was the interesting state of bluegrass in the early sixties, both inside and outside of the country mainstream. It has drums on it, fer cryin’ out loud! Not so much high lonesome, but plenty peppy.
I bought this reissue twofer from Jim and Jesse themselves at the Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival. They were super nice guys. And man oh man, did they have fantastic hairdos!
Up next: Jim and Jesse do an album of Chuck Berry songs!
