Bluegrass was released by Folkways in 1964 (FA 2408) under the names Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and the Kentuckians. David Grisman, then a young admirer of Allen and a mandolin student of Wakefield, produced it. Six of the twelve tracks were recorded in September 1963 at the Wynwood studio in Falls Church, Virginia, and six in 1964 at Cue Studios in New York.
Allen, born in Pigeon Roost, Kentucky, in 1930, sings lead and plays guitar, with Wakefield on mandolin. Pete Kuykendall plays banjo and Tom Morgan bass on the Falls Church sessions, where John McGee adds fiddle on “Are You Afraid to Die?” and “Are You Washed in the Blood?” In New York the banjo player is Bill Keith and the bassist Fred Weisz. Wakefield sings lead on “Deep Elem Blues,” “The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake” and “Shake Hands with Mother Again,” and he is credited with the instrumental “Catnip.” “New Camptown Races” is a mandolin instrumental he had already recorded on a single. “Somebody Loves You Darling” is credited to Wiley and Zeke Morris, and “I’m Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail” to Karl Davis and Harty Taylor.
Allen and Wakefield had formed the Kentuckians in the Washington, D.C., area in 1960, and by January 1965 Wakefield had left for the Greenbriar Boys. Allen was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
Tracklist
- 1 Little Maggie alt version 2:44
- 2 Somebody Loves You Darling alt version 2:27
- 3 New Camptown Races alt version 4:13
- 4 Are You Afraid to Die alt version 2:41
- 5 Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong alt version 3:33
- 6 Are You Washed in the Blood alt version 2:47
- 7 Deep Elem Blues alt version 4:53
- 8 Ground Hog 2:03
- 9 The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake alt version 3:21
- 10 Catnip 1:49
- 11 I’m Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail Source Recording 2:15
- 12 Shake Hands with Mother Again 2:42
