Virtually no other album anywhere in history is known to its audience by its label number. Not Kind of Blue, nor Pet Sounds, Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations, none. Except this one. Rounder 44. Probably the most seminal bluegrass album of all time. Notice we didn’t say modern bluegrass, though it originally came out in 1975. That’s because, unlike, say, Aereo Plain by John Hartford (who contributed notes to the original package, reproduced here), The New South didn’t reinvent bluegrass. It perfected it. Bandleader and banjoist supreme J.D. Crowe got his start as a teenager in Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, before returning to Kentucky and forming The Kentucky Mountain Boys. That band morphed over the years to become The New South, boasting probably the most formidable line-up any American band of any genre has enjoyed. Bassist Bob Sloane (of The Kentucky Colonels) was the first to join, followed by one legend after another: fiddle and mandolin player Ricky Skaggs, dobroist Jerry Douglas, and guitarist/vocalist Tony Rice. Together, they were pure magic: technically brilliant but soulful, inventive but disciplined, each a virtuoso but still part of the unit. And, oh, those harmonies! The New South is the cornerstone of any bluegrass collection. Of course, a group this talented wasn’t destined to last long. Within a year, each member went their own way, pioneering progressive bluegrass with each successive project. But the one album they recorded together, Rounder 44, is THE ONE. Our Real Gone reissue of The New South features two sets of added liner notes, one by guitarist Skip Heller and one by mandolinist Jarrod Walker, along with the bonus tracks “Why Don’t You Tell Me So” and “Cryin’ Holy” with Emmylou Harris. We’re pressing 1000 copies of this classic in root beer vinyl…don’t you dare miss it!
