Old and New was released by Flying Fish in 1975 (FF 010), produced by Bruce Kaplan. It followed The Fields of November (1974), the first album Norman Blake made with the cellist Nancy Short, whom he married in 1975. Blake had joined John Hartford’s group in 1971 and made his first solo album, for Rounder, in 1972.
Blake plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin and dobro and sings; Charlie Collins plays guitar and fiddle; Nancy plays cello, viola and bass; and Ben Pedigo plays banjo. Tut Taylor adds dobro on “Witch of the Wave,” and James Bryan plays fiddle on “My Old Home in the Green Mountain Side.” Many of the arrangements are for two guitars, with fiddle, banjo or cello added on others.
Of the seventeen tracks, Blake wrote most, among them “Widow’s Creek,” “Bristol in the Bottle,” “Harvey’s Reel,” “Valley Head,” “Ajimina” and “Flat Rock.” The traditional pieces are “Forked Deer,” “Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Witch of the Wave,” “Miller’s Reel,” “Sweet Heaven” and “Sally in the Garden.” Blake sings on four songs: “Billy Gray,” “My Old Home in the Green Mountain Side,” “The Railroad Days” and “Sweet Heaven.” Flying Fish reissued the album in 1992 on a double CD with The Fields of November; that CD left out “Rubagfre” and “Ajimina.”
Tracklist
- 1 Widow's Creek
- 2 Bristol in the bottle
- 3 Billy Gray
- 4 Forked Deer alt version 2:56
- 5 Rubagfre
- 6 Cuckoo’s Nest alt version 3:30
- 7 Witch of the wake
- 8 My old home in the Green Mountain side
- 9 Miller’s Reel alt version 4:29
- 10 Dry grass in the high fields
- 11 Harvey's reel
- 12 The railroad days
- 13 Valley head
- 14 Sweet Heaven alt version 4:21
- 15 Sally in the garden
- 16 Ajamina
- 17 Flat rock
