The World's 15 Greatest Hymns represents the sacred recording output of Don Reno, Red Smiley, and the Tennessee Cutups, one of the most musically accomplished bands in 1950s and 1960s bluegrass. Reno was among the handful of five-string banjo players who shaped the instrument's vocabulary in the immediate aftermath of Earl Scruggs, developing a single-string approach that added melodic and chordal dimensions Scruggs's roll-based style did not emphasize. Smiley's warm, accessible tenor made him an ideal partner for devotional material, and "The Old Rugged Cross" — a standard in southern Protestant hymnody — receives a sympathetic reading here. Religious recordings were central to the bluegrass economy throughout this era, and the Tennessee Cutups brought the same precision to their gospel work as to their secular sessions. The album is a representative example of a band whose full contribution to the music is sometimes obscured by the longer shadows of Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs.
Tracklist
- 1 Amazing Grace alt version 2:58
- 2 Echoes from the burning bush 2:04
- 3 Jesus savior, pilot me 2:27
- 4 Precious Memories alt version 2:49
- 5 The Old Rugged Cross Source Recording 2:59
- 6 I need the prayers 3:22
- 7 Farther Along alt version 3:31
- 8 Rock of Ages alt version 2:21
- 9 In the garden 2:36
- 10 In the Sweet Bye and Bye alt version 2:22
- 11 River of Jordan alt version 1:53
- 12 Whispering hope 2:55
- 13 Mansion in the sky 2:17
- 14 Where We’ll Never Grow Old alt version 2:41
- 15 What a Friend We Have in Jesus alt version 3:33