Summer is the perfect time for bluegrass. I can't think of any other music that sounds better outside (on second thought, just about all of them do.) My first exposure to bluegrass (not counting "The Beverly Hillbillies") was the Tall Timber String Band, featuring Phil and Vivian Williams, still going strong today. I was a radio baby, so I didn't understand why bluegrass on stage sounded so different from the dry and dusty stuff I found on LP. Skip ahead a year or two. I hear The Holy Modal Rounders for the first time. The HMR took old-time standards and added psych-o-delic (and often "blue") lyrics. Then there's Peter Stampfel's voice -- nasal, whiny, and not particularly concerned with the right key. It wasn't until I heard old-timey Uncle Dave Macon that I realized that's where that voice came from. I'll deal with the HMR in depth later; my point here is that years after the HMR debut, Rounder Records (yes, named after the Holy Modal Rounders) released a 'comeback' album called "Alleged in Their Own Mind" in which Peter slandered partner Steven as a speed freak, a liar and a thief -- in their own liner notes!!
The Real Music Box is a set of 4 double CD sets, all of which are available separately as two-fers. My favorites are "Hills of Home" and "Hand-Picked". There is a bonus disc in the box set, featuring a selection of lesser-known (and mostly unavailable on CD) artists. Plus you get the great book that shows the early days of Rounder, selling LPs out of the box at bluegrass shows.
There are several record labels that have managed to sell music based on our trust in the label itself; ECM, for instance, or Windham Hill in the early days. Rounder belongs in that august company, and it's not for nothing that Alison Krauss still records on Rounder even though she's probably received many more lucrative offers.
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