Sound Off finds the Country Gentlemen in 1971 applying their characteristic Washington, D.C. eclecticism to material that included pop ("Fox on the Run"), country ("Sea of Heartbreak"), and folk-rock ("Teach Your Children"). This adventurousness was both a strength and a point of contention within a traditional bluegrass community that often viewed such borrowings with suspicion. Charlie Waller's baritone anchored a band that had been through numerous personnel changes but retained its essential identity. The Gentlemen's willingness to engage with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young material placed them in the vanguard of a broader conversation about what acoustic string music could absorb without losing itself, a conversation that would define the genre's next decade.
Tracklist
- 1 Matterhorn alt version 2:20
- 2 I Am Weary (Let Me Rest) alt version 2:39
- 3 Two Little Boys 3:14
- 4 This World's No Place To Live 2:50
- 5 Girl from the North Country alt version 4:20
- 6 500 Miles alt version 3:18
- 7 Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party 2:49
- 8 Cooper Kettle 2:53
- 9 Helen alt version 2:39
- 10 Little Bessie alt version 3:43
- 11 Many a Mile alt version 2:33
- 12 Come All Ye Tenderhearted 3:09
- 13 Teach Your Children Source Recording 2:35
- 14 Where I'm Bound 2:21
- 15 Redwood Hill alt version 2:45
- 16 Letter To Tom 3:14
- 17 Less Of Me 2:00
- 18 Devil's Little Angel 3:53
- 19 The Likes Of You 2:05
- 20 This Morning At Nine 2:24
- 21 Dixieland For Me 2:32
- 22 The Fields Have Turned Brown alt version 2:48
- 23 Over The Hills To The Poor House 2:57
- 24 Come And Sit By The River 3:29
- 25 Fox on the Run Source Recording 2:33
- 26 Sea of Heartbreak Source Recording 2:51
