Lester Flatt's Bluegrass Festival by Lester Flatt and the Nashville Grass, released on CMH in 1978, is a late-career document from one of the music's founding figures, recorded without Earl Scruggs for the first time in Flatt's most productive years. Flatt and Scruggs had dissolved their legendary partnership in 1969, and Flatt spent his remaining years — he died in 1979 — leading the Nashville Grass through the festival circuit. His guitar playing, particularly the G-run that bears his name, and his laconic baritone remained instantly recognizable, and the Nashville Grass was a capable supporting band. The album captures him comfortable in the role of elder statesman, playing the music he had helped invent without apparent anxiety about the commercial pressures that had driven his split with Scruggs.
Tracklist
- 1 Why Did You Wander alt version 2:43
- 2 Columbus Stockade alt version 3:19
- 3 Down the Road alt version 2:40
- 4 Jimmie Brown the Newsboy alt version 3:20
- 5 Before I Met You alt version 2:27
- 6 Backin' to Birmingham 3:25
- 7 Martha White theme 1:00
- 8 Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms alt version 2:37
- 9 She’s My Little Georgia Rose alt version 2:11
- 10 Tennessee mountain home 3:20
- 11 Panhandle country
- 12 When I stop dreaming 1:54
- 13 Georgia cotton 2:28
- 14 The ugly girl 3:25
- 15 I Don’t Love Nobody alt version 2:12
- 16 I Know What it Means to Be Lonesome alt version 2:16
- 17 We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart alt version 2:41
- 18 Joshua 1:40
- 19 Little Lewis' Wildwood flower 1:20
- 20 Dim Lights, Thick Smoke alt version 3:06
- 21 Goin' up Cripple Creek 2:25
- 22 Till the End of the World Rolls Round alt version 2:33
- 23 Randy Lynn Rag alt version 2:04
- 24 Hot Corn Cold Corn alt version 2:35
- 25 Get in Line Brother alt version 2:15
- 26 Will the Circle be Unbroken alt version 3:22