Going Up On the Mountain, released on Bay Records in 1977, was an early solo outing from Jody Stecher, a California multi-instrumentalist whose range set him apart from most of his bluegrass contemporaries. Stecher came up in the 1960s Bay Area folk scene and absorbed an unusually wide set of influences — Scruggs-style and clawhammer banjo, Appalachian song, and, later, North Indian classical music — into a synthetic but unforced approach. His singing reflects deep study of mountain vocal practice without affecting an accent he didn't grow up with, and his playing moves between idioms without seams. The record sits at the meeting point of bluegrass and old-time, prizing interpretive depth over showmanship. It introduced a musician whose work would always appeal most to listeners who valued thoughtfulness and breadth, and who treated traditional music as a living language to be spoken fluently rather than merely preserved.
Tracklist
- 1 Going Up On The Mountain 2:46
- 2 The Hills Of Isle Au Haut 3:33
- 3 Golden Vanity alt version 5:28
- 4 Wild Bill Jones alt version 3:22
- 5 Rhinoceros 2:20
- 6 Black Waters 4:10
- 7 Turtle Dove 4:26
- 8 Oh the Wind and Rain alt version 3:49
- 9 Don’t You Hear Jerusalem Moan alt version 3:00
- 10 Amanda 4:09
- 11 Way Downtown alt version 3:54
- 12 The Hills Of Isle Au Haut 4:31
- 13 Wedding Dress 1:43
- 14 Table Mountain Road 2:08
- 15 Snake Baked A Hoecake 2:22
- 16 Thompson's Reel 1:40
- 17 The Blind Fiddler 2:42
- 18 The Frieze Britches 2:47
- 19 Leela 8:27
