Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Bashful Brother Oswald & Charlie Collins LP "Oz And Charlie"

Here is one of my favorite LP`s by one of my musical mentors, Bashful Brother Oswald. This is one of the artists (and also one of the LP`s) that made me want to play old-time music.
Oswald was a great old-time banjo picker and singer, but is best known for practically inventing a style of playing the Dobro. Oswald is likely most well known for being the Dobro player in Roy Acuff`s Smoky Mountain Boys. He held that "gig" for about 55 years!! Who works one job for 55 years!!?? He performed on the Grand Ole Opry for about 62 years, playing as a solo Opry member after Roy Acuff passed away.
Oswald`s Dobro style is so unique and immediately recognizable that it could definatly be argued that without the style of Oswald`s dobro playing that Roy Acuff might not have eventually became "The King Of Country Music". Roy`s sad (sometimes even morbid) songs coupled with the sounds of Oswald`s Dobro could bring tears from audiences.
Oswald was heavily influenced by Hawaiian music and his style of playing Dobro shows it with all the trills and slants he done. Listen to Hilo March, a Hawaiian song, which is one of my favorite Dobro songs.
Now... not only is Oswald great, Charlie Collins is certainly one of the best flat top pickers of all times. Also, Charlie is one of the greatest rhythm guitar pickers ever in my book. He got with Roy Acuff about 1965ish and styed with him till Roy passed away. Charlie also has several LP`s & CD`s of his own as well as these LP`s recorded with Oswald. Charlie has recorded playing rhythm guitar on many records, including recording under Bill Monroe a time or two. Charlie is also a good bluegrass style mandolinist and plays good fiddle in sort of a cross between bluegrass and old-time fiddle styles, sounding more bluegrass influenced.
The other two artists on this LP likely need no introduction, the great Norman Blake on mandolin and some lead guitar, and Sam Bush playing fiddle and guitar.
Hope you all like this one. Let me hear from you, it`s nice to know if you all enjoy what I post.

Rear cover notes---


Track list---


Click here to download Bashful Brother Oswald "Oz and Charlie" LP

14 comments:

  1. This is great stuff. My favorite is his little Hawaiian tunes and his agreat work on the Acuff shows. The Jug band is my altime favorite. The fire they had under them early morning shows were great. Thanks for the great blog.
    Floyd

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  2. They were great! The Jug Band stuff was good sure enough. If you liked the Smoky Mountain Boys doing their Jug Band routine, go check out the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band. They are sort of a direct decendant of them, doing many of the same songs the Jug Band performed and filling in the rest of their shows with Roy Acuff and other similar material. Their website is www.tennesseemafiajugband.com

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  3. Thanks I've seen them and you are rite I love them. Thanks again for the great music.
    Floyd

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  4. why so low quallity? only 160kbps?

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  5. If the quality of what I`m capable of doing is not up to your standards, listen to your own records.

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  6. Hi - just stumbled upon your site. THANKS SO MUCH!! I've read from some of your other posts about how much time you put into this, and I'm very grateful for your efforts. If it wasn't for guys like you, this music would stop being heard.

    again, thanks - Gregg

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  7. Good to call in to see your contributions to the great world of music! Well done! Thank you very much! OzCowboy

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  8. Really enjoyed this album. A big thank you from the other side of the pond.

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  9. Thanks so much for your posts. Enjoying them down here in the deep southern Pacific in little old New Zealand. Cheers mate! Dave

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  10. Thanks for your wonderful contributions. Oz set me on the path, long, long ago. That wild and sweet mountain sound, with the palm trees swaying!! Keep on keepin' on, bro.

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  11. I have an autographed copy from 1977 when I saw the two of them performing at Opryland in Nashville. I was on a two month trip with my wife, so I asked a sister-in-law to mail it to me. Unfortunately, it arrived warped. After many years I was able to get it to play everything except the first songs on each side. Thanks for the download - now I can hear Mountain Dew and Oswald's Special without the warp!

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  12. Oz and Charlie! Killer! I'm in tears...thanx! Using on my radio show.

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  13. Great! Spread Qswald and Charlie far & wide!

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