Norman Blake and Red Rector, originally recorded in the early 1970s and reissued in 2006, documents a meeting between two Georgia musicians at home in the repertoire of the rural Southeast. Rector, a mandolinist and singer from a slightly older generation, brought a direct connection to pre-bluegrass string-band and mountain gospel traditions; Blake's guitar playing and singing grounded the collaboration in the same deep soil. The resulting record has the character of a front-porch session between two musicians who share a common language — informal, unselfconscious, and rooted. The reissue made this material available to listeners who had discovered Blake through his later, more widely distributed work, and it fills in important context for understanding where his aesthetic originates.
Tracklist
- 1 Girl I Left Behind Me Source Recording 2:43
- 2 Denver Belle alt version 3:57
- 3 Lorena alt version 2:55
- 4 The Old Spinning Wheel alt version 4:04
- 5 Mississippi Sawyer Source Recording 2:04
- 6 Red Wing Source Recording 2:33
- 7 Cricket on the Hearth alt version 2:49
- 8 Limehouse Blues alt version 1:20
- 9 The Green Leaves Of Summer 2:01
- 10 Freight Train alt version 5:20
- 11 Darling Nellie Across the Sea alt version 2:43
- 12 Darlin' Honey 2:32
