Various Artists - Various Artists - Bluegrass Country Soul

On Labor Day weekend 1971, producer-director Albert Ihde and his crew came to Camp Springs, North Carolina and shot the first feature film ever made about bluegrass music. Bluegrass Country Soul captures the sights and sounds of this three-day outdoor festival, the first of its kind, founded in 1965 by music promoter Carlton Haney. Bluegrass veterans and future stars alike shared the primitive wood-and-cinder-block stage. Ralph Stanley's 1971 edition of the Clinch Mountain Boys included teenagers Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and Keith Whitley on guitar. Their version of Man of Constant Sorrow gives a haunting preview of the "hit" from the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Bluegrass 45 was the first such Japanese group to tour America. The Bluegrass Alliance (which later evolved into the New Grass Revival) shows the music's progressive side. Tony Rice performs with both the Alliance and J.D. Crowe. Fiddler Chubby Wise, who put Orange Blossom Special on the map, and Earl Scruggs, the banjo master behind Foggy Mountain Breakdown, get the all-star treatment. "King of Country Music" Roy Acuff makes a rare festival appearance; Acuff, Scruggs and Jimmy Martin would soon help close the generation gap with their participation in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's landmark album 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken', released in 1972. Bluegrass Country Soul premiered that same year, but only in a limited run. Since that time it has become an underground classic. The Camp Springs festival is history, yet thanks ti Ihde, Haney and the expert commentary of Fred Bartenstein, we can experience this cultural phenomenon with new insight and a fresh perspective.