CREEM ONLINE: Can't You Hear Me Callin — Speed Metal's Granddaddy

Of course when we referred to Bill Monroe as the Dixie Chicks' daddy we meant "spiritual daddy"!

Various Artists
Can't You Hear Me Callin': 80 Years Of American Music
Columbia Legacy

OK, speed demons. Are you a fan of blistering leads? Songs played at a breakneck pace? Dark and mystical lyrics? Well look no further. Can't You Hear Me Callin' is a four-CD box that covers 80 years of headbanging madness.

Various Artists
All-Star Bluegrass Celebration [CD / DVD]
Sugar Hill

This live concert filmed at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville is a joyful celebration of bluegrass that combines the best of the new school and some of the surviving legends of the form.

Produced by Terry Lickona of Austin City Limits fame, the concert was originally aired on PBS. Now it's available on CD and DVD (and without the compulsory This Old House tote bag). The show is hosted by Ricky Skaggs, and the lineup definitely capitalizes on the popularity of O Brother Where Art Thou with appearances by the likes of Alison Krauss and Dr. Ralph Stanley (who never ceases to sound chilling as all hell on "O Death").

Stanley and Earl Scruggs are there, representing the old school of bluegrass, while Krauss, Del McCoury, and Skaggs show how the flame is being kept alive. Mainstream country superstars like Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, and Travis Tritt also show up to lend their voices. With a tribute to the late Bill Monroe, the show culminates in an all-hands-on-deck jam session that is better than most. It's a worthwhile watch (or listen).

—Brian J. Bowe
February 2005

Sure, the squealing distorted guitars have been replaced by mandolins and banjos, and most bluegrass bands are more affiliated with Jesus instead of the traditional speed metal orientation toward Satan. But there's no denying that there are enough fretboard pyrotechnics and hemidemisemiquavers here to satisfy anyone into high-energy jams.

The109 tracks are arranged chronologically from 1925-2002 and give a crash course on this most American form of music. Kicking off with a 1929 version of "Soldiers Joy" by Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (unquestionably one of the coolest band names ever) and ending with a 1997 version of the same song by Mark O'Connor, Can't You Hear Me Callin' covers a lot of ground. And it sticks close to the ground.

The story of bluegrass—which is a story of earthy toil, faith and devotion and lonesome harmonies—is told in a gripping and expansive essay by CREEM alumnus Billy Altman. The music is reflective of its roots in Appalachia, and Altman explores that history in suitably horticultural terms. "One branch of the country music tree has maintained a root system that remains amongst its deepest and well-tended – and not only in country, but in all of American music. It is bluegrass, a genre borne of a string band tradition as bedrock as the Appalachian Mountains and as fertile as the foothills of the Southeast.”

There are a few chapters of the story that should be familiar to anyone interested in American music. The Carter Family is represented with three songs which barely begin to scratch the surface of that group's influence on music and culture. Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys' groundbreaking contributions codified the bluegrass sound and gave Elvis one of his first hits with "Blue Moon of Kentucky." Flatt and Scruggs brought bluegrass into America's living rooms with "The Ballad of Jed Clampett."

By the end of the '60s and through the '70s, artists like the Byrds began bringing bluegrass to the granola masses. In the 21st century, the soundtrack to the film O Brother Where Art Thou brought bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley mainstream success that few would have imagined.

But the real value of the collection are the deep vault cuts from Columbia and 20 other record labels. There are previously unreleased tracks from Roy Hall, Carl Story, and Sara and Maybelle Carter. There are more than a dozen cuts unavailable elsewhere, including a torrid 1938 version of “Pretty Polly” by the Coon Creek Girls (which was later recorded by the Byrds) and songs by Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper with Their Clinch Mountain Clan, Carl Story and The Rambling Mountaineers, and Don Reno.

Whether you're an Appalachian redneck looking for the music of your ancestors or a college town alt-country hipster looking for songs to cover, there's so much substance to this box that you'll be digesting it for years.

—Brian J. Bowe
February 2005

Photos: Bill Monroe couresy of Les Leverett Archives; Dixie Chicks by James Minchin