The David Grisman Bluegrass Experience pairs Ralph Stanley with David Grisman's Acoustic Disc circle for a session that operates as both reverence and reframing. Stanley, in his late seventies at the time, sings with the same severe authority he had been bringing to the material since the Stanley Brothers' Columbia sessions of the 1940s. Grisman's mandolin and the rotating cast of Acoustic Disc players — drawn from the Bay Area circle that has long centered on his catalog — provide accompaniment that honors the original arrangements while opening occasional harmonic windows that the older bluegrass would have closed. The repertoire revisits Stanley standards and the older mountain material that he had spent his life curating. Grisman's role here is largely deferential, the producer-instrumentalist stepping back to frame a singer whose voice was approaching the end of its long arc.
Tracklist
- 1 I'm rollin' on 2:56
- 2 Baby Blue Eyes alt version 3:58
- 3 Engine 143 5:16
- 4 The Baltimore Fire 3:40
- 5 Ruben’s Train alt version 3:34
- 6 Dream of the Miner’s Child alt version 4:50
- 7 Dawggy Mountain breakdown 3:29
- 8 Rock Hearts alt version 3:10
- 9 Say Won’t You Be Mine alt version 3:30
- 10 You'll be a lost ball 3:27
- 11 Down the Road alt version 3:04
- 12 Old and in the Way alt version 3:50
- 13 Are You Afraid to Die alt version 2:45
- 14 There Ain’t Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone alt version 3:30