The Essential Bluegrass Album, released on CMH in 1979, brings together the Osborne Brothers and Mac Wiseman — figures who helped define postwar commercial bluegrass. Bobby and Sonny Osborne were pioneers of a harmony-forward, smoothly produced approach that dominated the Nashville bluegrass market through the 1960s and 1970s, while Mac Wiseman was among the genre's most dependable and warmly melodic lead voices. Pairing them on a single double-length CMH project made commercial sense and yielded a generous survey of standards delivered by veterans entirely at home in the material. The album leans on the bluegrass and country songbook rather than new writing — the kind of repertoire all three had sung for decades. The Essential Bluegrass Album captures established masters in relaxed, authoritative form, trading on reputations long since earned.
Tracklist
- 1 Midnight Flyer Source Recording 2:00
- 2 Shackles and Chains alt version 2:51
- 3 Four Walls Around Me 2:32
- 4 I'm a Stranger Here 2:43
- 5 You’re the Girl of My Dreams alt version 2:02
- 6 Family Bible alt version 2:23
- 7 Mother Maybelle 2:58
- 8 Poison Love alt version 2:00
- 9 Take Me Back to Renfro Valley 4:30
- 10 Mountain Fever 2:27
- 11 'Tis Sweet to Be Remembered 2:47
- 12 Keep on the Sunny Side alt version 2:53
- 13 It's Goodbye and so Long to You 2:06
- 14 Shenandoah Waltz alt version 2:17
- 15 I’ll Still Write Your Name in the Sand alt version 2:37
- 16 Pins and Needles - In My Heart 2:52
- 17 Are You Coming Back to Me 2:29
- 18 The Bluebirds Singing for Me alt version 2:47
- 19 Old Brush Arbors 2:16
- 20 Don’t Let Your Sweet Love Die alt version 2:45
- 21 Travelin’ this Lonesome Road alt version 3:04
- 22 I Wonder How the Old Folks are at Home alt version 2:51
- 23 I've Always Wanted to Sing - In Renfro Valley 3:18
- 24 Little White Church Source Recording 2:46
