I think vocals over bluegrass guitar should be against the law. Well, not really, but someone should warn you. Nothing is a bigger disappointment than to buy a bluegrass album only to have some ... singing about stupid ..stuff over the beautiful guitar and mandolin melodies. This album is just that. Great playing, bad singing. Then again, this is a personal preference. I think vocals almost always ruin music. Listener be warned!

First of all, don't call it bluegrass. It's not bluegrass, because it's just guitar -- on most of the tracks, just one guitar -- and bluegrass is played by bands, with bass, banjo, mandolin and fiddle being a pretty common outfit.

But it is flat-picking, the guitar style associated with bluegrass and with greats like Doc Watson. And oh, is this flat-picking! There aren't many that could claim to be in Blake's league, even back in 1976 when he cut this, his first album. He plays a very versatile, very expressive guitar that is very traditional country and very not corn pone.

As on most of his later albums, Blake records a mixture of his own compositions and traditional pieces, some songs and some pure instrumentals. When you need an antidote to the depressingly bland ga-ga on the radio, buy Norman Blake, and start with this one.

Acoustic guitar whiz Norman Blake started off as a bluegrass prodigy in the late 1950s, and flatpicked his way across numerous albums in the 1960s and '70s, particularly as a session guitarist on albums by Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez, and as frequent collaborator in John Hartford's various bands. This is one of his best-known solo records from the 'Seventies, a typically understated, flawless set of stripped-down, nostalgic old-timey acoustic numbers, with Blake playing solo and accompanied by a sympathetic secod guitar. There are plenty of Vaudeville and Southern-themed songs on here, including ditties such as "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane," "Arkansas Traveler" and "Old Gray Mare," music that the entertainment industry -- in all its areas -- had long since turned its back on. Blake breathes life back into these old standards, taking each song at his leisure while crooning in his thin, smooth old-mannish voice. For fans of great music, simply and elegantly performed, this is hard to beat. Plus, the guy's a world-class ace flatpicker -- folks who actually "get" what he's doing on guitar will be amazed.